«David Bowie is» has placed the Museu del Disseny on the map

Xavi Roig is the manager of the Communication Department at the Museu del Disseny. We talk with him about the various ways to communicate design through online and offline channels.

You experienced the coming together of the four great museums that gave rise to the Museu del Disseny in Plaça de les Glòries. What challenges have you faced in communicating this change?

The inauguration of the Museu del Disseny in Plaça de les Glòries has given us the opportunity to present a new cultural space in the city and to rediscover a vast collection under a single common denominator: the object.

And what activities did you have to work on?

To communicate this change, we created a new corporate identity, a new website and a communication campaign that followed a strategy aimed at both the citizens who already knew the four museums, as well as a national and international audience.

In the first case, we had to publicise the benefits of the change, such as the new museum display and the creation of a space for reflection on the role played by design today. With the national and international public, we have had to promote the message of being one of the few museums in the world that, within a single space, concentrates on items of product design, graphic design and fashion design together with pieces of decorative art, textiles and clothing and the graphic arts.

In the last months you have had some very intense experiences with two great exhibitions: David Bowie is and Adolf Loos. Private spaces. What stands out for you at the communication level?

The David Bowie is exhibition undoubtedly helped place the Museu del Disseny on the international map of museums and within the range of the city’s cultural activities. With the exhibition on Loos, we have been able to carry out activities with architecturally-related entities, given that he is such a renowned figure within this field: the results have been very positive and it has been one of the most visited exhibitions in the history of the Museum.

Let's talk about the future. What challenges are the Museum’s Communication Department considering?

One of the short-term objectives is the display of our collections, either through their own digital channels or by collaborating with already existing digital platforms. We started to see the first results with Europeana and Google Arts & Culture, which we joined last year with the We wear culture project.

Finally, undoubtedly in your day to day life, you come into contact with many of the designers and many graphic design, product design and decorative art creations. What is your favourite piece in the collection?

The fact that the Museum has such a wide and varied collection (nearly 70,000 objects and 22,000 documents) makes it possible to be for ever discovering amazing pieces. To mention just a few: the Catalan glass collection from the 17th century, the Gelocatil packaging designed by Enric Huguet (impressive to see how it has survived the passage of time), and the wonderful catalogues of the dresses by Paul Poiret in the Museum’s Documentation Centre.