Lápiz de Acero Branding

Branding for Designers: Creating the Identity of Colombia’s National Design Award

El Lápiz de Acero (The Steel Pencil) is one of the country’s oldest and most respected institutions dedicated to promoting excellence in design. In 2024, they invited our studio to develop the visual pieces for that year’s call for entries and award ceremony.

Instead of following the visual line created by Lip Estudio —who had designed the new logo and brand manual— we proposed what could be seen as a small act of strategic rebellion: that each edition of the award should have its own identity. The logo would remain, yes, but everything else would be reinvented year after year by different studios. A way for the award that celebrates creativity to also practice it.

We proposed a living system —not only to reinvent the award’s aesthetics, but to invite other studios to join the dialogue. Each year, a new perspective, a new interpretation of Colombian design. In doing so, the award would become a generative force of creativity.

The proposal delighted the founders, and we had the honor of opening this new stage. We took Helvetica (the base typeface from the previous system) and pushed it to the limit with negative kerning —a decision inspired by The Designers Republic, who understood design as an aesthetic provocation.

We decided that the silhouette of the trophy —the award’s iconic symbol— should be the main visual protagonist, and we animated it to bring contemporaneity and energy. The colors, taken from the brand manual, were expanded with an intensity that reinterpreted Swiss tradition through our Latin lens —a kind of tropical modernism.

After all, El Lápiz de Acero is not just an award: it’s a celebration, an annual ritual where the industry gathers to do what it does best—create beauty with purpose.

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