Research Studios Barcelona will be run by Pablo Rovalo, previously director of Mexico-based Z-Graphics Design Studio, and one of the early collaborators at Research Studios London in the 1990s.
His designs link his native Mexico with Europe in projects that experiment with identity, print, motion, signage and environments.
The Barcelona studio will have an active presence in Spain and Portugal, while expanding an existing client base in Latin America and the US.
Rovalo said: "At the forefront of both economic transformation and cultural change, Barcelona is playing an active role in Spain's future and Research Studios will also be playing an active role in that change process."
"Opening this studio enables us to push the boundaries of communication with groundbreaking experimental projects and developing award-winning visual languages."
Neville Brody, founder of Research Studios, said: "Barcelona will run on the same principle shared by Research Studios network - open collaboration between offices and designers bringing their own personal background and their cultural surroundings to bear on projects to create groundbreaking design solutions."