Collaboration with New York Times Illustrator Brian Rea to Visualize the City's Emotional Values
Highly Praised for Innovation and Social Contribution Among Around 10,000 Entries from 68 Countries
Global brand consulting company The Bread And Butter announced that the Busan City Visual Branding Project, which it led as the general contractor, has won the Winner award in the Brand Communication category (Public & Cause Branding) at the iF Design Award 2026, one of the world's most prestigious design awards. Organized by iF International Forum Design in Germany, the iF Design Award is often referred to as the "Oscars of the design world." This year, around 10,000 projects from 68 countries competed intensely for the honor.
In this year's judging, the Busan City Visual Branding Project achieved a score of 310 points, far exceeding the overall average score of 283 points for all entries, and secured the Winner award with an overwhelming result. The jury of 129 global design experts gave exceptionally high marks both for the originality with which it modernly reinterpreted Busan's identity, and for the social impact demonstrated by its B-Corp-based sustainable model.
The winning project visualized Busan's intangible value of "Verticality" and the citizens' warm emotional bond, "Jeong," redefining the city's previously standardized image into an emotional and human-centered identity. In particular, through collaboration with world-renowned artist Brian Rea, the project built the entire city into a single, large-scale "narrative infrastructure," showcasing artistic innovation that goes beyond logo-centric branding.
The Bread And Butter did not stop at design outputs, but also proposed a sustainable operational system. By embedding the principles of the global corporate certification "B-Corp" into branding, it completed a "Betterment Branding" model in which profits are reinvested into local community development. This suggests that city branding can become a practical tool that promotes co-prosperity with local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and helps alleviate social inequality. In practice, through collaborations with leading local brands such as "Momos Coffee" and "Songwol Towel," the project has been credited with enhancing both the public value of design and its contribution to the local economy.
Cho Sooyoung, CEO of The Bread And Butter, said, "This high score, far above the average, not only promotes Busan's appeal to the world, but also demonstrates how design can contribute to a city's sustainable growth and social solidarity," adding, "We will continue to uphold the value of 'Betterment,' whereby brands exert a positive influence on the world."
Meanwhile, The Bread And Butter, which began in London in 2004, has been creating a distinctive branding impact in the global market, including obtaining qualification in 2025 as a Prime Contractor for the U.S. federal government.
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