The typeface Nikolai in use for the campaign “Granada limpia que te quiero limpia” (English: Clean Granada, I love you clean)

Granada: My city should be cleaner

The Andalusian capital, Granada struggles with the same waste problems as many other European cities: abandoned furniture and household goods, lack of use of trash cans, inadequate waste separation and dog excrement. Against this background, the city council together with the environmental service provider PreZero, the local cleaning service Inagra and the Creative Agency Viernes, developed a motivational campaign to keep the city clean.

The campaign “Granada limpia que te quiero limpia” (English: Clean Granada, I love you clean) aims to ensure that every individual can make a modest contribution to keeping the city clean. Lyrical, consensual messages that a large majority can agree with play the main role. For example, “If you call us, thanks to your help we will clean the corner you love so much.” Or: “Let’s celebrate Granada without leaving bottles and trash on the squares.” And, “My heart beats faster for Granada because the recycling bin is not confused with the trash can.”

“For the campaign, we held a competition asking residents to write a compliment for their city related to Granada’s clean, bright nature.” explains Pedro Vázquez of the Viernes agency. Visually, the compliments were paired with colorful illustrations by Barcelona-based cartoonist and comic book writer Genie Espinosa. Vázquez chose Nikolai Condensed Regular as the campaign font.

“We chose this typeface because of its classic, elegant style, in keeping with the culture and aesthetics of Granada: it’s not old-fashioned, but contemporary and playful.”

Pedro Vázquez, Designer

The space-saving, high-contrast condensed typeface proves to be extremely helpful because it keeps the wordy messages together in an easy-to-read manner. The dots of the i and full stops were replaced with glittery stars “to emphasize the cleanliness of the city,” says Pedro Vázquez. The campaign logo is set in the Catalan Art Deco font, Mirtha Display by Guillermo Lizarzuay, while the sans serif Solanel, designed by Nico Inosanto from Switzerland, rounds off the campaign.

In April 2023, the campaign culminated with a performance by flamenco dancers from Granada. Their dance was about paper and cardboard and the need to fold it well before throwing it in the blue bin and not on the sidewalk!

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