DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
: 01.The starting point of our project revolves around the visual and narrative interpretation of the concepts of care, assistance and dialogue found in the Europ Assistance payoff, “You live, we care”.
DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
: 0.2We wanted to underline the activities and values of Europ Assistance and to allow the brand’s identity, roots and vision of the future to clearly emerge, based on unique, effective storytelling.
DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
: In future we aim to continue to enhance our project and all the people who have worked on it. In the meantime, we are also completing the 2019 version, with a new and interesting point of view.
DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
: From the initial idea to the final delivery of the printed editorial it took around 3 months, involving a team of 12 people.
DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
: The Ragù Communication team responded to the need to enhance Europ Assistance’s annual Activity Report, one of its most important projects, the jewel in the company’s crown.
Following the brand objectives and language, we were able to create a synergy between contents and design, combining the inspiration, creativity and skills of each one of us.
DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
: Europ Assistance used our project to communicate the company’s economic soundness and reliability, disseminating its brand mission and way of working.
DI: What made you design this particular type of work?
: Our team was able to implement this project thanks to the climate of mutual trust and dialogue established in recent years with Europ Assistance. These conditions allowed us to come up with custom, tailored solutions, in line with a broader creative strategy.
This is also our way of working, what sets us apart from the crowd for our clients.
DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
: The ideas for this project come from different international illustration and design contexts.
DI: Who is the target customer for his design?
: Our target for this project are the Europ Assistance stakeholders, its partners and its people working in different countries around the world.
DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
: The distinguishing feature of our work is having transformed a company report into a unique, high-quality design product, with a highly communicative impact, while maintaining an institutional profile.
DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
: The project name mirrors the Europ Assistance payoff “You Live, we care”, which sums up the brand’s mission and values: the constant presence in people’s lives, with complete, tailor-made care and assistance.
DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
: We used the basic tools of any designer: Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop.
DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
: The most original aspect of our project is the harmonious combination of different design elements, used to create highly effective storytelling.
We were able to maintain a concept that is consistent with the brand positioning, which we then made visible through design and illustration choices: the issue of dialogue was the focal point which brought coherence to the whole design.
This concept was then further enhanced by the fact that the cover plate is characterized by a die-cut reproducing the shape of the Europ Assistance logo.
DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
: The Ragù Communication team that worked on this project is an international team, consisting of highly qualified professionals from very different backgrounds. This characteristic allowed different technical skills and inspirations to come together in a uniquely coherent project, while allowing the specific characters of each one to emerge.
To give strength and vigour to the editorial style, we called in an illustrator to collaborate with us, who freely interpreted the theme and the content of the articles.
DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
: Technology is an inherent part of every step of our work, from the software we use to create the graphic design to the printing, done on a latest-generation machine.
Last, but not least, technology also allowed us to involve and connect all the professional skills involved, even remotely.
Technology is therefore a powerful means that we use to build experiential communication, in any case all revolving around human creativity.
DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
: Every Ragù Communication creative project comes from careful research and analysis. As often happens with our projects, we carried out research directly on the field, through a series of interviews and workshops with Europ Assistance. We were able to see their reality first-hand, and discussed the work directly with them. This was our starting point.
DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
: The challenge of this project was to fully understand the brand language and features, and then make these emerge from the design clearly and attractively, so that the visual could illustrate the contents in the best way.
DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
: We strongly believe that dialogue and competition can be the true drivers of our personal development. We consider it an opportunity to better understand ourselves and the context we work in; in doing so, we are able to provide an increasingly high-quality service.
In particular, we put a lot of attention and energy into this project, and it is important for us to enhance it to the full.
DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
: Each project is a new stimulus for us to improve and put ourselves to the test, exploring new territories and setting increasingly stimulating and ambitious goals.
DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
: We would like to say something about ourselves: Ragù communication is a creative and strategic international communication agency that works like a small boutique; we personally oversee every step with sartorial care, from the creative idea to the final product, and we look after all our clients with the passion that we are renowned for.