Universitat.Studio

Bicing.Fes teva la ciutat.

Brand and campaign exploration for the Art Direction course at BAU, College of Arts and Design of Barcelona.

Bicing is close to gender parity, but Barcelona's bike lanes are not. This campaign connects the journeys women already make with the cycling network.

Subject
Bicing, Barcelona's public bike-sharing system.
Role
Research, strategy, art direction, design and copywriting.
Course
BAU, art direction, summer 2026
Output
57-slide campaign proposal
Cover slide with a woman riding a bicycle at night and the title Bicing: Fes teva la ciutat

Fes teva la ciutat.

Make the city yours.

Poster showing a cyclist in a park with a red route line marked Francesc Macià 18:45 and CEM Joan Miró 18:55
Route poster. Francesc Macià 18:45 → CEM Joan Miró 18:55
Two Bicing bicycles shown from the front, one red electric bike and one white mechanical bike
Bike front. Electric and mechanical
Woman in everyday clothes riding a bicycle along a city street
Photography direction. Everyday clothes, real movement. The ride isn't the point; what it enables is.

Barcelona’s bike lanes are losing women.

Women made up 30.7% of observed cycle-lane users in 2025. In 2021, the figure was 35.6%.

Women also make up 68% of bus passengers and 60% of metro passengers. They already cross the city every day.

One 2023 BACC cycling-profile sample split 72/28. A 2020 Bicing user survey split 53.8/46.2. The public service is much closer to parity.

30.7% women among observed cycle-lane users, 2025
72 / 28 men / women in a BACC cycling-profile sample, 2023
53.8 / 46.2 men / women in a Bicing user survey, 2020

Sources: BACC 2025 · BACC cycling profiles, 2023 · Bicing user survey, 2020 · Barcelona mobility bulletin, 2024

They don’t reject the bicycle. They reject the cyclist stereotype around it.

The L5 user

She is 25 to 44 and lives, works or studies inside the Bicing service area. She knows how to ride.

Her day includes home, work, the pool, her mother's place and dinner. At half past six, her plans change.

The L5 can't follow her day. Bicing can.

  • Home
  • Work
  • Gym
  • Relationships
  • Family
  • Health
  • Fun

Her day does not fit on one line.

01

Don't make her a cyclist. Put Bicing inside the day she already has.

02

Win the awkward legs. The transfer, the detour, the change of plan.

03

Make it ordinary. Put Bicing beside the bus and metro—not in a separate “cyclist” category.

One city. Many routes.

The module comes from the Bicing mark and repeats like an Eixample block. Your route cuts through the grid in red, making the city yours.

The line carries the route. Everything else stays asphalt black, white or infrastructure grey.

Helvetica Neue already speaks through Barcelona's signage. Bold carries claims. Regular handles station names and times.

Black modular grid crossed by a thick red route line
The module, the grid and the personal route
Colour swatches for Bicing red, asphalt black, white and infrastructure grey
Red is reserved for the route and for Bicing
Helvetica Neue type specimens beside Barcelona transport signs
Helvetica Neue. The type already in the street
Campaign summary board showing the claim, a modular grid, red routes and reference photographs
Campaign system at a glance

Everyday movement, no costume.

Women are dressed for where they're going. Natural light, real contrast, traffic lights, stations and night.

No posing or eye contact. The bicycle stays a tool and never becomes the subject.

The reference frames below are placeholders. The proposed shoot would take place in Barcelona.

Woman in everyday clothes riding a bicycle along a city street
Reference image. Placeholder for the proposed Barcelona shoot
Two women riding bicycles through a park in low evening light
Reference image. Natural light and real contrast
Mitja hora.
Half an hour.
El camí de tornada.
The way back.
Avui, pel parc.
Today, through the park.
Has canviat de plans.
You’ve changed plans.
Encara hi ets a temps.
There’s still time.
Bicing. Fes teva la ciutat.
Poster showing a cyclist in a park with a red route line marked Francesc Macià 18:45 and CEM Joan Miró 18:55
Francesc Macià 18:45 → CEM Joan Miró 18:55. The campaign starts from a simple observation: a twenty-minute walk can become a five-minute ride

Where I’d take it next

This was a two-week course project, so there are no campaign results behind it. Three questions still need answers.

  1. Can the station-and-time format be understood in the two seconds people give a bus-shelter poster?
  2. Bus, metro and Bicing all lead with red. Does the campaign need a secondary colour to remain recognisably Bicing?
  3. Is this enough to put Bicing alongside bus and metro in the audience's everyday choices?