We talk to Madrid based Studio Tres Tipos Gráficos and their design work for the restaurant and outdoor café Atzaro Beach located at Cala Nova, Playa del Norte. 

1. Tres Tipos Graficos is based in Madrid, can you explain how you got involved with a project in Ibiza?

Regarding Atzaro ,the director of the hotel at that time was Alex Reyners, my brother. He usually works with local people for day-to-day pieces, such as flyers, letters, etc… For the launch of Atzaró Beach he needed a project with a new image a bit more ambitious and durable, hence he called us.

2. What was the brief given to you from Atzaro beach?

Atzaró is a hotel which is very appreciated by tourists and locals, they have values that are very close to the traditional Ibiza, those of the more rural and quiet part. For Atzaró Beach the focus was very similar, since Cala Nova is a family beach a little further away from the tourist center. Atzaró Beach was conceived as a modern chiringuito with quality guarantee of the hotel, but primarily as a friendly and welcoming place. We needed a picture that conveyed those values, that talked about the beach and the sea, the natural environment, and that presented that concept  in a way that was reachable, but also modern and inviting.

3. What do you think of the design landscape/ scene in Ibiza?

There are two worlds that coexist in Ibiza, both in design and in everything else. From the traditional style to the more radical aesthetic of the night. Undeniably, there is some saturation. The clubs are very influential in this area, and sometimes paint a landscape that is somewhat aesthetically overloaded. It is difficult to gain a foothold so that your image stands out from the rest among so much noise. Ibiza is a very competitive environment where subtlety can go unnoticed, you can find some good examples of this, and I think they are an example to follow.

4. Can you describe your creative processes involved with Atzaro beach?

The chiringuito is located high and it has a privileged view of the beach. The first thing we did was to work with a clear view, we wanted to look towards the beach, talk about the environment and nature, and not the venue itself.

When creating the logo, we worked again with the idea of ​​the sea using two waves that embrace the logo next to the text “Cala Nova”. Integrating a geographic reference we emphasize again the natural environment. Finally the typeface name in a centered, simple and elegant composition that provides a quality grade.

5. In your opinion what is the most important part of the design process?

The conceptual part. Before addressing the design it is important to define clearly which are the values that you want to convey, how you want to stand out, and where will you put the emphasis. It is all about defining your own identity, knowing who you are and how you want to be perceived. It is usually a process of elimination, in which you dismiss everything that is not essential and keep only those things that add value.

This is the process that eventually leads very naturally to the solution, to the idea that best represents this conceptual approach. Finally, the final design of the brand is the visual representation of this idea which appears again quite naturally if the previously mentioned steps have been met satisfactorily.

6. What was the most difficult part of the project?

The trickiest part of the project was making sure that the image was recognisable as part of Agroturismo Atzaró at any given time, it couldn’t be too flashy or  something that differed a lot from the image of the hotel. The structure of the logo, a centered circle as the base form (as opposed to the squares of Atzaró), a condensed typeface … are elements that helped to build and communicate somewhat of a relationship between the two brands.

7. Are there any differences between Ibiza and Madrid in terms of design styles?

Madrid is still a long way from equaling design capitals like London and Barcelona, but you can actually see a wide range of styles. Increasingly, large corporations and local businesses take into account the design of communication and position themselves with their own style. Interestingly, there is a cultural hotpot where you can find innovative proposals where you can see variety and quality throughout. However, Ibiza is more constrained to standards, as we mentioned before it moves between two extremes, those being mostly craft and the night aesthetic, usually based on a topical approach but with a very overloaded execution. But yes, there are good examples; the internationally influenced local businesses result in a higher quality design. In recent years, an improvement in quality brands that have brought talent from Europe to differentiate themselves can be perceived.

8. Are you working on any other projects in Ibiza? If not what are you currently working on?

At this moment we have nothing ongoing in Ibiza. The studio is involved in various editorial design, corporate identity and web design projects, linked to both the cultural and the private sectors. Currently the most relevant project that we have going on is the design of a new magazine dedicated to contemporary art called Input, and the first issue will be available soon.