The international event Multiverso: Icograda Design Week will take place in Torino (Italy) from 13-19 October 2008 and is entirely dedicated to the new scenarios in the fields of communication design. The Design Week is part of Torino's celebration as the first World Design Capital.

The full programme includes a 3-day international conference, exhibitions, forums and 4 workshops for students and young professionals.Multiverse is a theory that admits the idea of the existence of many universes, where different laws apply; in the same way, Multiverso can also describe a kind of design that is open-ended, open-source, bottom-up, relational, process-based.

This multiverso vision applied to visual communication paves the way for new project developments, so as to identify the most suitable answers to the complex world we live in.

Identity design has already gradually moved away from the idea of creating perfect systems to guarantee consistency and a univocal approach as supreme values, shifting instead towards flexible identities that can be adjusted to the context. Other communication and, broadly speaking, project areas, can benefit from the same type of approach.

The conference (17-19 October) will explore the opportunities that may arise from both the perspectives of theoreticians studying the premises and the designers working along this line: their input will show different ways through which multiverso can reveal itself.

Invited speakers are Ruedi Baur, Andrew Blauvelt, Daniel Eatock, Paul Elliman, LUST, Saki Mafundikwa, Luna Maurer, Robyn McDonald, Stefano Mirti (Id-Lab), Monika Parrinder, Carlo Ratti, Mateus Santos, Pierre Di Sciullo, Bruce Sterling and Sophie Thomas.

Three exhibitions, Multiverso, Italic 2.0 and "Alba" (Dawn), will showcase a selection of both international and Italian design.

The main exhibition, Multiverso, will feature an international selection of communication design work addressing the Multiverso theme.

The exhibition will include works by: Ruedi Baur, Andrew Blauvelt, Peter Bilak, Catalogtree, Pierre Di Sciullo, John Morgan Studio, Ji Lee, Jürg Lehni, LUST, Luna Maurer, Mevis & Van Deursen, Norm, Stefan Sagmeister, Todo, Tomato, Welcometo.as, and more.

Italic 2.0 shows the most recent developments in the Italian typographic scene, which has recently shown a real boom, thanks to the work of many new designers. The main threads of developments are shown: research and experimentation, teaching, revival of historical models, custom and independent typefaces.

The exhibition will feature works by Elena Albertoni, Giovanni De Faccio, Piero De Macchi, Alessio Leonardi, Fabrizio Schiavi and many others.

The book Italic 2.0, published by DeAgostini, will be launched on the opening of the exhibition.

"Alba, nuovi manifesti italiani" (Dawn, new Italian posters) presents 130 posters designed between 2000 and 2007 by 42 Italian graphic designers who face often difficult and contradictory contexts and methods in Italy. One thing is certain, if the Italian poster is to survive, it must regain its role and/or set off in new directions. The new "culture of design" generation is called upon to solve this difficult task.