Grafia board member Chris Bolton visited the POV Design Conference in Budapest and shares his experiences and observations from the two-day festival. This was the second year of the POV Design Conference in Budapest. Spread over two days, the event combined guest speakers, workshops, city tours, and closed with a party on a boat along the Danube. The festival drew an international audience and again curated a world-class lineup of speakers. By bringing deeper connection and fresh credentials to some of the most relevant voices in branding and graphic design, POV has quickly established itself as a meeting point for designers looking to expand their perspective. Its main sponsor this year was The Brand Identity. This year’s theme was ‘Making Sense’. Hosted by Base Design’s Editorial Director Julie Tentler. Revolut Revolut, one of the world’s most influential finance apps, was presented by Gareth Morgan, Head of Global Brand Design. He traced his path into the role and the transition to an in-house brand team, sharing his motto “Act of saying yes.” His talk highlighted the importance of designing for inclusivity rather than exclusivity, building a brand with a clear purpose, and the collectability of Revolut’s bank cards. While insightful, the presentation carried a slight sense of sponsor placement. Modem Modem operates both as a think tank and design studio, collaborating with academic partners including Harvard GSD, MIT, and UC Berkeley. With a set end date of 2030, the studio creates urgency around acting with intention and focus, while questioning the classic agency model rooted in aesthetics. They showcased experimental projects such as Terra, an AI tool for getting lost with confidence; Smart Aid Kit, an intelligent medical AI; Dream Recorder, which renders dreams into images; and Symbiotic, a speculative device for interspecies communication with beings like whales. Instid The Institute for Identity (INSTID) is a London-based agency dedicated to place branding, helping cities and regions across Europe, Asia, and Australia shape their international presence. Their approach goes beyond stereotypical visual or aesthetic cues, defining and communicating the unique identity of a place. Examples included projects such as Bond’s Saaristo, which avoids cliché while creating a compelling sense of place. Metahaven Amsterdam-based collective Metahaven has become one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary visual culture. Their talk explored the “incompleteness of things” and the idea of cognitive load, while showcasing poetic narrative work through film and speculative identity projects pitched to clients. Their practice sits on the edge between conceptual art and design, making them a singular presence in the field. Displaay Displaay is an independent type foundry focused on creating both retail and custom typefaces. Their work is dedicated to pushing typography forward while maintaining a strong, distinctive design language. Base Design Ross Gendels, Creative Director of Base Design New York, presented with clarity and structure, showcasing his philosophy of branding as a way to create possible worlds — both small and large. He described his approach as sharp, full, and playful, always forming a “world vision” that extends beyond pixels. His case study of Macha branding underlined the role of trust in client relationships, especially with Japanese partners. The presentation unfolded as a story in six parts: characters, intuition, vision, particle, tension, and the world — an unusually well-structured narrative compared to typical case films. EY Doberman EY Doberman presented under the theme “Sense and serendipity,” comparing the 1800s to today to illustrate shifting cultural and social dynamics. Their work explored speculative futures and examined the potential effects of climate change, emphasizing design as a way to frame uncertainty and possibility. Mouthwash Studio Alex Tan of Mouthwash Studio shared the agency’s rapid rise from a self-initiated magazine to an established LA-based studio. Their philosophy, “making sense is the work,” informs projects for clients such as Seed, Nike After Dark, Fender, North Face, and Brand AI. The studio also dedicates two weeks a year entirely to play, with no meetings or client work, using the time to experiment and test new ideas. Driven by shared values and beliefs, the team embraces the idea that “we shape the world as we become it,” making time matter through purpose and exploration. Studio Dumbar Liza Enebeis, Creative Director of Studio Dumbar, spoke about turning complexity into simplicity through bold, rhythmic, and saturated design. She described design as both systematic and chaotic, balancing order with exploration, or as she framed it: “sense needs nonsense.” Unique in their use of sound as a design element, the studio includes in-house sound designers to give motion purpose. Case studies included the Feyenoord football team identity refresh, OpenAI, North Sea Jazz Festival, and Demo Festival. Enebeis likened design to being in love: caring too much, losing sleep, and overthinking — a metaphor for passion in the craft. OpenAI OpenAI’s presentation focused on how identity keeps pace with technology that evolves at breakneck speed. Their brand system unifies the company while remaining adaptable, with a custom typeface that expands continuously to support more languages in line with global ambitions. Notably, they commissioned real photography for brand imagery, grounding their futuristic technology in authenticity. Dada Projects Dada Projects is a female-led 3D design studio that showcased their process from ideation and sketching to multiple stages of 3D development. They highlighted projects for Selfridges, 121 Festival, and a detailed case study for a Swatch product launch, emphasizing creativity rooted in both craft and experimentation. Two Times Elliott Two Times Elliott presented their approach to branding consumer products, which thrives on the tension between opposites. Their philosophy contrasts restraint with expression, minimalism with maximalism, chaos with control, and tradition with innovation. This duality was illustrated in their showcased project, Hello Clean, demonstrating how tension drives originality. Are.na Are.na’s talk opened with a nostalgic reference to the 1998 film You’ve Got Mail, using it as a way to frame identity formation through cultural touchpoints. They explored how nodal points — books, films, people, music, and objects — shape trajectories of self and expand understanding of the world. It was a thoughtful reflection on how our environment and experiences continually shape who we are. Bakken & Bæck Bakken & Bæck centered their talk on the belief that “making sense comes from uncertainty.” They shared how they approach briefs with both practicality and speculation, connecting case studies that ranged from market-ready solutions to experimental, forward-looking concepts. Wolff Olins George Allen of Wolff Olins spoke on “making sense of a brand’s soul.” He described their perspective as weird, wild, and beautiful, showcasing cases including Lloyd’s Bank, Uber, and Sandals. Their ethos for change is built on three principles: design for tension, scale the magic, and create the feeling. Destination Branding Workshop Werklig’s Mikko Repponen and Aliz Stocker led a fully booked workshop on destination branding. They opened up their process and tools, framing them with playful metaphors like “planet and moon” and “chess on multiple fronts.” The session was highly interactive, with participants engaging in the live task of reimagining Budapest’s city brand. Missed the event in person or virtually? You can buy access to the same talks from this link: https://www.povbudapest.com/tickets Photo: Liza Enebeis from Studio Dunbar / Chris Bolton Chris Bolton https://www.instagram.com/studiochrisbolton Graphic Designer and Art Director, Board member of Grafia