Think about sitting on a group of 4.5 million objects and discovering that most individuals in your individual metropolis cannot let you know the place you might be. That was roughly the issue for Stadtmuseum Berlin, whose blunt suggestions from locals – “Stadtmuseum Berlin? The place is that?” – grew to become the start line for a full rebrand by Berlin studio Stan Hema.
The largest change is the identify itself. Stadtmuseum Berlin and its varied areas (together with the Märkisches Museum and the Nikolaikirche) have adopted a single identify: the Berlin Museum. “Berlin comes first for us, and our identify displays that now,” explains Sophie Plagemann, inventive director. It is a deliberate transfer to nudge the establishment away from the picture of a “dusty historical past museum” towards a spot for everybody.
This strategy began with the general public. Slightly than retreat right into a boardroom, the museum ran an open name inviting Berliners to select aside how the model was seen. What got here again formed the remainder: Berlin, in all its overlapping, contradictory, never-quite-aligned glory, sits on the centre of the brand new id. “Berlin challenges and fascinates. The Berlin Museum ought to really feel like Berlin itself. Direct, a bit cussed, and all the time open to individuals and new views,” says Lisa Geisler, model strategist at Stan Hema.
I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Berlin. It is a captivating metropolis that refuses to sit down nonetheless. I feel I got here house and described it as “barely unhinged in the absolute best manner”. And anybody who’s been will most likely agree. There’s nowhere prefer it on Earth. By which case, what do you do with it? Nicely, on this case, you cease making an attempt to drive it into one tidy emblem. As a result of it simply would not be Berlin. So as an alternative of a single fastened mark, the Berlin Museum will get a versatile wordmark the place typefaces shift and mix. And the good twist is that these typefaces come straight off the road.
“For us, the wordmark is the identity-defining component of the museum. It’s instantly related to the fact of our metropolis,” explains André van Rueth, designer and typographer at Stan Hema. “To realize this, we gathered typography from on a regular basis Berlin: from U-Bahn stations and iconic buildings to the native currywurst stand. From this combine, we created a logotype system that brings totally different Berlin typefaces and views into dialogue.”
The end result, seen throughout a run of posters for the museum’s websites, is a ‘Berlin Museum’ lockup the place the letters by no means fairly match, set in daring coral, lime and sky blue and punctuated by a little bit arrow fabricated from tiny crosses. It should not maintain collectively, and but it does – which strengthens my earlier level, given the town it is named after.
For a standard establishment, it is a genuinely courageous transfer, and one constructed on dialogue somewhat than top-down decree. “The brand new Berlin Museum model is a heat invitation to everybody who lives in and visits Berlin,” says Mathias Illgen, managing director at Stan Hema. “And if the brand new model interprets the heat, intelligence, and fervour of the individuals working on this ‘home’, then we have now achieved an excellent deal.”
The Stan Hema workforce on the venture included Lisa Geisler, Mathias Illgen, André van Rueth and Daniela Vogel, working for consumer Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin throughout model technique, structure, narrative, design and the launch marketing campaign. The identify is on the market, proper now, with a city-wide marketing campaign rolling out from this autumn.
Sitting again and all this, I feel it is a good reminder that one of the simplest ways to signify a spot is not to easy all of it out (or faux to be one thing it is not), however to let its many voices (together with the currywurst stand) be heard.
