Circolare

Circolare is a digital platform developed through the Italian PNRR funding initiative for the Ecological Transition of Cultural and Creative Organizations (TOCC). The project is funded by the European Union's Next Generation EU program.

The project's primary objective is to develop a practical tool for the circular economy that will support a national network of cultural organizations in sharing goods and resources sustainably, thereby promoting cost savings and collaboration. Expected benefits include reducing waste and the production of new materials while promoting the circular economy and collective purchasing.

We developed the platform in collaboration with Santarcangelo dei Teatri (the project lead), Ecoarea, Agency for Sustainable Development (ASSO) and the Documentation Center on Environmental Conflicts (CDCA), all of which are organizations dedicated to sustainability in the cultural sector. Our development partner was Extera.

During the initial briefing, the following specific goals emerged:

• Improve communication between cultural organizations and facilitate the exchange of existing goods

• Reduce surplus and waste by enabling a sustainable system of reuse and sharing

• Foster collective purchasing from green suppliers with favorable conditions and shared visibility

• Offer training programs on circular economy practices for cultural enterprises

These goals blend the logic of solidarity purchasing groups, which have negotiated supplier terms, with circular economy principles to encourage the reuse and circulation of materials.

For us, this project was also a practical opportunity to connect environmental and local impact with digital innovation at the intersection of our services and values.

Main challenges

The project presented complexities in both governance and implementation:

• Diverse stakeholders: The presence of multiple stakeholders, including promoting organizations, the design team, and the development team, required continuous alignment and communication through frequent feedback cycles
• Evolving scope: While the funding call established some initial parameters, many details were clarified during the project, demanding adaptability and mediation between needs, ambitions, and technical feasibility
• Connecting digital with physical: Although the platform facilitates contact and transactions between organizations, all exchanges occur offline. Designing solutions that supported these hybrid processes while tracking them without complicating the user experience was essential
• Sustainability and accessibility: The entire project had to comply with CAM (Minimum Environmental Criteria) and AGID guidelines by integrating sustainable and accessible design principles.

A collaborative project, like the platform itself

It wasn't a rush to launch; it was a shared journey. We designed, tested, and adapted every feature with the team, working in phases with constant validation. It was a truly agile approach.

Visual identity: sustainable, with character

The project had a clear green orientation. However, we wanted to avoid predictable aesthetics, such as leaves, desaturated greens, and organic scripts.

We ran a participatory brand workshop to align team members, stakeholders, and objectives. It wasn't just about designing a logo; we established the foundation for communication: values, tone of voice, key messages, and visual guidelines.

The result is a clean yet distinctive identity that is designed to be instantly recognizable without being intrusive. This enabled us to create a consistent visual system across digital and physical touchpoints that can be adapted for communication materials, interfaces, documentation, and campaigns.

In short, we created a flexible, scalable brand tailored to the platform’s context that can express its circular economy mission without resorting to clichés.

UX and Service Design

Circolare is not just a digital platform; it’s a system that primarily operates outside the screen, involving the lending of goods, logistics, and inter-organization relationships. We mapped the entire journey - online and offline - to ensure the service was fluid, realistic, and sustainable.

From the initial discovery phase (kickoff, user research, and journey mapping) to edge cases, information architecture, and interactive prototypes, we designed a coherent ecosystem.

The private area allows organizations to:

• Share or request goods
• Participate in group purchases
• Access discounts from sustainable suppliers
• Track activities and impacts with post-exchange reminders

The public area contains content on sustainability, CAM, training, and contacts. We have also added a "light gamification system" that awards points for every action to encourage participation and highlight the most active organizations.

Interface: accessible without compromising visual quality

Accessibility wasn’t a constraint; it was a design tool.
We built the interface around a design system that aligns with WCAG and AGID standards without resorting to impersonal visuals. Each component was designed to be understandable, readable, and usable by everyone, even under less-than-ideal conditions, such as small screens, low connectivity, and specific needs.

We integrated accessibility with aesthetic choices and brand personality to deliver an experience that is both compliant and aligned with the project’s values.

Through close collaboration with the client and development team, the entire interface was refined over time through rapid cycles of feedback and testing. The result is a solid, inclusive, and recognizable interface that enhances usability without losing character.

Quality down to the last pixel

Throughout the three-month development phase, we worked closely with Extera to fine-tune every detail. Micro-revisions, testing, copy support, and interaction refinements - every piece was polished to ensure consistency and quality.

First release

The platform, available at circolare.app, was released in May 2025 after six months of work, including the development phase. The release was preceded by a pilot phase dedicated to the first entities involved, useful for gathering feedback and validating the approach.

Although the initial release follows an MVP logic for early validation, it already includes key features for facilitating exchanges, supporting group purchases, and offering training. The modular design ensures future scalability.

Circolare is designed to evolve, shaped by the cultural organizations that use it daily.

As the design team, we will continue to support its development through feedback-based iterations to enable a real transition toward more sustainable, shared practices.