Oscar Mariné Brandi
Designer

Designer

A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...

, illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

, expert typographer and professional artist, Oscar Mariné is one of the major communicators in post-Franco

Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

 Spain. His internationally renowned work includes iconic designs for filmmakers like Pedro Almodóvar

Pedro Almodóvar

Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...

, Alex de la Iglesia

Álex de la Iglesia

Alejandro "Álex" de la Iglesia Mendoza is a Spanish film director, screenwriter, film producer and former comic book artist.Most of De La Iglesia's films reached cult status due to their weird sense of humour.- Biography :...

, and Julio Médem

Julio Medem

Julio Médem is a Spanish writer and film director.Medem was born in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain and showed an interest in movies since childhood, when he would take his father's Super 8 camera and shoot at night, while nobody was paying attention...

, musicians like Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...

, The Psychedelic Furs or Brian Eno

Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

, the press (El Pais, C International Photo Magazine

C International Photo Magazine

C International Photo Magazine covers contemporary photography in a range of cultural, geographic and themes. It was created by Elena Ochoa Foster, founder of Ivorypress and is published twice yearly...

) and a variety of firms (Absolut Vodka

Absolut Vodka

Absolut Vodka is a brand of vodka, produced near Åhus, Skåne, in southern Sweden. Since July 2008 the company has been owned by the French firm Pernod Ricard who bought V&S Group from the Swedish government....

, Hugo Boss

Hugo Boss

Hugo Ferdinand Boss was the founder of clothing company Hugo Boss.-Early life:Boss was born in Metzingen, Germany. After completing his apprenticeship and one year of employment, he founded his own company in Metzingen in 1923.-Support of Nazism:Boss joined the Nazi Party in 1931, two years before...

, Camper

Camper (company)

Camper is an international shoe company based in Spain. Lorenzo Fluxa founded the company in 1975 after inheriting a shoe factory from his father, Antonio Fluxa, a Spanish shoemaker. Camper operates 52 company-owned stores around North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, as well as distributing...

, Loewe

Loewe (brand)

Loewe is a Spanish luxury clothing and accessories brand based in Madrid and is owned by the LVMH Group. Loewe is known around the world as being one of the very best when it comes to luxury leather goods.- History :...

 etc.)

Biography

Oscar Mariné Brandi (born 1951 in Madrid, Spain)

Founder of the OMB Graphic Design

Graphic design

Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...

 studio in Madrid.

Mariné has produced dozens of works of national and international renown in areas as diverse as publishing, corporate communications, film and music. His works bear the precious seal of a total creator, one who unites content, context and various techniques to overcome barriers in graphic design. His organic conception of product design

Product design

-Introduction:Product design is the process of creating a new product to be sold by a business or enterprise to its customers. It is concerned with the efficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products.Product designers conceptualize and...

 makes him a vital exemplar of contemporary communication methods.

In 1998, Tibor Kalman

Tibor Kalman

Tibor Kalman was an influential American graphic designer of Hungarian origin, well-known for his work as editor-in-chief of Colors magazine....

 said of Mariné's work: "It is no longer graphic design. It is communication

Communication

Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...

. Graphic belongs to 1955. Communication means the creator has accepted responsibility for an intense stew of elements (a paella

Paella

Paella is a Valencian rice dish that originated in its modern form in the mid-19th century near lake Albufera, a lagoon in Valencia, on the east coast of Spain. Many non-Spaniards view paella as Spain's national dish, but most Spaniards consider it to be a regional Valencian dish...

?) which now includes nutrition. Good cooks must balance the full range of effects to be expected from communications and now this includes content, as well as a dizzying array of contents, media and techniques.

Early days - Madrid Me Mata magazine (1980s)

Mariné's multidisciplinary creativity was evident from the start when he was founder and artistic director of the celebrated counter-cultural magazine Madrid Me Mata, where he fused content and form to create an iconic publication during the famed La Movida Madrileña

La Movida Madrileña

La Movida Madrileña was a countercultural movement that took place mainly in Madrid during the Spanish transition after Francisco Franco's death in 1975...

 of the 1980s.

As a graphic designer/communicator (1991 to date)

In the area of branding

Brand management

Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand.The discipline of brand management was started at Procter & Gamble as a result of a famous memo by Neil H...

, his projects for Camper

Camper (company)

Camper is an international shoe company based in Spain. Lorenzo Fluxa founded the company in 1975 after inheriting a shoe factory from his father, Antonio Fluxa, a Spanish shoemaker. Camper operates 52 company-owned stores around North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, as well as distributing...

, Loewe

Loewe (brand)

Loewe is a Spanish luxury clothing and accessories brand based in Madrid and is owned by the LVMH Group. Loewe is known around the world as being one of the very best when it comes to luxury leather goods.- History :...

 and Vega Sicilia

Vega Sicilia

Bodegas Vega Sicilia is a Spanish winery located in the Ribera del Duero Denominacion de Origen in the north of Spain.The "Vega Sicília" wine is well known as one of the most notable Spanish wines...

 are well known in Spanish design circles. International achievements include the renowned US advertising campaign for Absolut Vodka

Absolut Vodka

Absolut Vodka is a brand of vodka, produced near Åhus, Skåne, in southern Sweden. Since July 2008 the company has been owned by the French firm Pernod Ricard who bought V&S Group from the Swedish government....

 Absolut Mariné for Seagram

Seagram

The Seagram Company Ltd. was a large corporation headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that was the largest distiller of alcoholic beverages in the world. Toward the end of its independent existence it also controlled various entertainment and other business ventures...

 USA, his work for Swatch

Swatch

Swatch is a brand name for a line of wrist watches from the Swatch Group, a Swiss conglomerate with vertical control of the production of Swiss watches and related products...

, Benetton

Benetton Group

Benetton Group S.p.A. is a global luxury fashion brand, based in Treviso, Italy. The name comes from the Benetton family who founded the company in 1965. Benetton Group is listed in Milan....

's Fabrica and the Japanese Narizuka Corporation. Also the development of the brand for Sir Norman Foster's architectural studio in London, Foster and Partners

Foster and Partners

Foster + Partners is an architectural firm based in London. The practice is led by its founder and Chairman, Norman Foster, and has constructed many high-profile glass-and-steel buildings....

, where his concepts remit one to the aesthetics of London in the swinging '60s.

He has an extensive portfolio of editorial

Editorial

An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...

 projects, and in the world of journalism

Journalism

Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

, in 2007, the Spanish newspaper El País entrusted his studio with the design of their leading editions. The El País Semanal (the Sunday glossy magazine) has recovered its original name, Babelia (the Saturday newspaper's cultural review) has totally transformed its contents. Domingo (the Sunday newspaper's current affairs section) provides in-depth journalism for the weekend. He has also supervised the overall redesign of the daily newspaper, altering typographic protocols, and giving the content legibility, readability and credibility. Since 2005 Mariné is responsible for the art direction of the exquisite design of the C International Photo Magazine

C International Photo Magazine

C International Photo Magazine covers contemporary photography in a range of cultural, geographic and themes. It was created by Elena Ochoa Foster, founder of Ivorypress and is published twice yearly...

, undoubtedly the most prestigious photographic art magazine in the world published by IvoryPress, London.

Many musicians have requested Mariné's input in the creation of their album covers: Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...

, Immaculate Fools

Immaculate Fools

Immaculate Fools were a pop group formed in 1984, who had their biggest success in 1985 with the single "Immaculate Fools", and continued until 1997, releasing six studio albums before splitting up.-History:...

, The Psychedelic Furs, Andrés Calamaro

Andrés Calamaro

Andrés Calamaro , is an Argentine musician, composer and Latin Grammy winner. His former band Los Rodríguez was a major success in Spain in the 1990s. He became one of the main icons of the Argentine rock in the last two decades and has sold over 1.3 million copies.-Abuelos de la Nada:Calamaro was...

, Los Rodríguez

Los Rodríguez

Los Rodríguez was a rock band composed by two Argentines and two Spaniards, that played during the 90's.-History:The group was born in 1990 when Ariel Rot and Julián Infante joined Andrés Calamaro, from the band Los Abuelos de la Nada, and Germán Vilella...

, Brian Eno

Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

, Kevin Ayers

Kevin Ayers

Kevin Ayers is an English singer-songwriter and was a major influential force in the English psychedelic movement...

, Siniestro Total

Siniestro Total

Siniestro Total is a Galician punk rock group from Vigo . It was founded in 1981 by Julián Hernández, Alberto Torrado and Miguel Costas. After many changes in personnel, current members are Julián Hernández, Javier Soto, Óscar G...

, Michel Camilo

Michel Camilo

Michel Camilo is a pianist and composer from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He specializes in jazz, Latin and classical piano work...

 and Tomatito

Tomatito

José Fernández Torres, known as Tomatito , is a Spanish Romani flamenco guitarist. He grew up in a musical family, including two uncles: Niño Miguel, a flamenco guitarist, and Antonio, a professional guitarist....

 to name just a few.

His projects for film include iconic posters for All About My Mother

All About My Mother

All About My Mother is a 1999 Spanish drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. The film deals with complex issues such as AIDS, transvestitism, faith, and existentialism....

by Pedro Almodóvar

Pedro Almodóvar

Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...

, The Day of the Beast by Alex de la Iglesia

Álex de la Iglesia

Alejandro "Álex" de la Iglesia Mendoza is a Spanish film director, screenwriter, film producer and former comic book artist.Most of De La Iglesia's films reached cult status due to their weird sense of humour.- Biography :...

, and Tierra by Julio Médem

Julio Medem

Julio Médem is a Spanish writer and film director.Medem was born in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain and showed an interest in movies since childhood, when he would take his father's Super 8 camera and shoot at night, while nobody was paying attention...

. This connection with cinema continues with designs for film festivals such as Zinebi International Festival of Documentary and Short Films of Bilbao (Spain), where Mariné's poster was awarded the New York Art Directors Club Award for 2000.

He also designed the official look for the last two editions of the San Sebastián International Film Festival

San Sebastián International Film Festival

The San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953...

 (Spain) and all of its sections. His Federico García Lorca

Federico García Lorca

Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...

-like designs are featured in the scenery of the renowned flamenco dancer Eva Yerbabuena

Eva Yerbabuena

Eva Yerbabuena was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1970, but fifteen days after her birth went back to live in her parents hometown in Granada, Spain.-Biography:...

's show El huso de la memoria.

Recent projects include the brand for Madrid's new cultural center, Matadero Madrid. This is a place for young people, a place where the search for art and creativity can be fulfilled. Mariné's identity covers all graphic requirements: signage

Signage

Signage is any kind of visual graphics created to display information to a particular audience. This is typically manifested in the form of wayfinding information in places such as streets or inside/outside of buildings.-History:...

, publications, advertising

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

, in house stationery, etc...

Other work includes: Exhibition Sebastiao Salgado "The Workers" for the National Library Madrid, publications for the Seville 1991 Universal Exposition, various for ICEX - Spanish Institute for Exterior Commerce, art catalogues for the IVAM - Valencia Institute of Modern Art, campaigns for the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha, exhibition graphics for the National Museum of Reina Sofia Center, multitude of projects over the past 15 years for the Huelva Tourist Board, launch for the Spanish Television + Radio- rtve, exhibition for The United Nations, and other works for Sgae-General Association of Authors and Editors, Caja Madrid Group, Santander Bank, 40 Principales, Los Aljibes and Paternina Vineyards, La Ser radio, Canal+, Condé Nast, El Corte Inglés, Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Hugo Boss, Pepsi, Tissot Watches, Diseño Interior, Cambio 16, Marie Claire España, Amnesty International...

In the El Greco 1900 exhibition organised by the SEACEX (State Corporation for Spanish Cultural Action Abroad) with paintings from the archives of the Museo de El Greco

El Greco

El Greco was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" was a nickname, a reference to his ethnic Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος .El Greco was born on Crete, which was at...

in Toledo, Spain

Toledo, Spain

Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...

, Mariné achieves a global vision of exhibition design, architecture, illumination, graphics and catalogue. The innovative lighting of the paintings and the installation

Installation art

Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...

 that allows us to enter the famed The Burial of the Count of Orgaz

The Burial of the Count of Orgaz

The Burial of the Count of Orgaz is a painting by El Greco, a painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. Widely considered among his finest works, it illustrates a popular local legend of his time. An exceptionally large painting, it is very clearly divided into two sections,...

 piece has been defined by critics as a radiant and avant-garde vision, without falling for typical stereotypes. Inaugurated at the Palacio de Bellas Artes

Palacio de Bellas Artes

The Palacio de Bellas Artes is the most important cultural center in Mexico City as well as the rest of the country of Mexico...

 museum in Mexico DF in 2009, it continues itinerant during 2010 at the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels

Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels

The Paleis voor Schone Kunsten or Palais des Beaux-Arts is cultural venue in Brussels, Belgium. Often referred to as "Bozar" or "PSK", construction was completed in 1928 and includes exhibition and conference rooms, movie theater and concert hall which serves as home to the National Orchestra of...

.

As an artist (1991 to date)

Mariné's pictorial work has been the subject of solo exhibitions in Tokyo, New York, Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

, Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

, Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 and Ibiza

Ibiza

Ibiza or Eivissa is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses. Its largest cities are Ibiza...

, and also forms a part of many collective shows. The owner of an Expressionist and chromatic stroke, some of his images are an essential component of various brand identities.

Graphic design awards

• 2010 National Award of Design. (Premio Nacional de Diseño) Government of Spain.
• 2002 Communication Arts
  Communication Arts
  Communication Arts is the largest international trade journal of visual communications. Founded in 1959 by Richard Coyne and Robert Blanchard, the magazine’s coverage includes graphic design, advertising, photography, illustration and interactive media. The magazine continues to be edited and...
  
   Certificate of Excellence: Farewell Casanova
• 2001 The Art Directors Club 80th Annual Award: Zinebi (42) Merit Award 2000 AIGA.
• 2000 Merit Award AIGA.American Institute of Graphic Arts
  American Institute of Graphic Arts
  AIGA is an American professional organization for design. Organized in 1914, AIGA currently has more than 22,000 members throughout 66 chapters and more than 200 student groups nationwide...
  
   Certificate of Excellence: All About My Mother
• 1997/1998/2000 AEPD Spanish Association of Professional Designers
• 1996 Hispanic Creative Award: Summer Issue Cover
• 1995 Hispanic Creative Award for Excellence: Swatch, Huelva, DRO East West/Rumor - Warner Bros. Records
  Warner Bros. Records
  Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
  
  

Individual exhibitions

• 2002 "Mariné" Galería Almirante, Madrid
• 2003 "Mariné: No Money No Honey" Galería Magenta 52, Milán
• 2005 "Mariné: Buenos Aires, Videos and Photography" PHotoEspaña
  PHotoEspaña
  PHotoEspaña, the International Festival of Photography and Visual Arts of Madrid, began in 1998 and has now evolved into a celebrated photography forum....
  
  05, Casa de América, Madrid
• 2005 "Mariné: Buenos Aires, Videos and Photography" Museum of Fine Arts of Bilbao
• 2006 "Days of Glory" ABA Art Contemporani, Palma de Mallorca
• 2007 "Latest Serie (screenprints)" Estampa 2007, Madrid
• 2008 Estampa 2008, Madrid

External links

• www.oscarmarine.com official website (Spanish and English)
• VEGAP, Visual Entidad de Gestión de Artistas Plásticos (Spanish)
• ABC newspaper article (Spanish)
• DIMAD Asociación de Diseñadores de Madrid / Madrid Designer's Association (Spanish)