UNTWIST — Untangling the Water-Energy-Food Nexus

The objective

Make the water-energy-food Nexus understandable to very different audiences — children, adults, decision-makers — starting from the question Anna Sperotto poses: “Have you ever wondered how water, energy, and food are connected?”

Every daily decision — what you eat, how you use energy — pulls a thread that moves everything else. The design challenge was turning this invisible web into something tangible and walkable.

The approach: knots and threads

We built a unified visual storytelling system based on the metaphor of knots and threads:

• The knots are the points of choice — a supermarket shelf, a light switch, a tap
• The threads are the invisible connections every knot carries with it
• Pull a knot, and you see threads moving in the distance: in an aquifer, a field, a power plant

The system works at multiple reading levels — from a simple explanation for children to advanced concepts for researchers — using the same visual vocabulary. It was adapted into Italian, Spanish, and Catalan.

What we delivered

• Main book — illustrated, ~120 pages, narrative + infographic apparatus
• Set of educational cards — interactive learning for classrooms and workshops
• Social kit — posts, stories, short videos to extend the reach of the message
• Complementary educational resources for teachers
• Dedicated website as the hub for all resources

Embodied sustainability, not declared

The physical production of the book honors the message it carries:

• Fedrigoni Arena recycled paper
• Low-impact inks
• Print processes with certified chain of custody
• Materials designed for long-lasting use (no didactic obsolescence)

Outcome

• Distribution across the BC3 network + EU partner networks
• Multilingual versions live (IT/ES/CA)
• UNTWIST site live: untwist.bc3research.org
• The metaphorical framework was adopted by BC3 as a recurring institutional communication asset

What we learned

When a scientific concept has 4–5 dimensions touching one another (water, energy, food, individual choices, global systems), design can provide a language before providing a solution. The right metaphor — knots and threads, here — saves hundreds of words of explanation and becomes visual memory that stays with the reader.

This is exactly the kind of work we’d like to do more of: serious scientific research that needs to speak to the world, without giving up complexity.