Karlsruhe-based Baschang builds canteen kitchens. They asked us to update their logo, as well as to create a fresh corporate identity for them. The main focus is the creation of an image brochure and a new website. Later, the redesign of their flyers, ads, office stationery, their company building, cars and trucks will follow.
Baschang builds kitchens, but also plans their layout, acts as an advisor to chefs, and conducts workshops. With that in mind, we tried to portray those elements in a series of photo collages. With a bit of humor, we managed to position Baschang's brand as vibrant. This new incarnation reflects its core values and services in a more accurate, modern, and attractive manner.
Baschang's services and quality is outstanding in their branch of business, and now their outward appearance reinforces that fact. Thomas Kreuzer from Baschang says: "We are the best at what we do and our clients love us. Most clients come to us through referrals. The urge to attract new clients made us think over our outward appearance and Special Machine Media helped us to portray it not only accurately, but also in a tasteful, witty and convincing manner. For that we're very much obliged."
April, 2006
Last year the HfG Karlsruhe decided they needed a new logo and put on a design contest. The Special Machine Team participated in the contest and won second prize for our corporate design solution. Yes, second sucks, but there's no accounting for other's tastes. (We're joking - sort of.)
The HfG Karlsruhe was founded in 1994 by
Heinrich Klotz with the intention of creating a new Bauhaus; in short, a
new school for new art To express this radical thought for a new school, we were looking for a symbol of international recognition that simply says "school". We turned to our maps and out of the geographical symbol for school we developed our whole corporate identity for the HfG.
We developed the logo and several variations, design styles, and defined layout grids, font and color usage. Based on those design principals we designed office stationary, website layout of main and sub pages, and corporate branding for the school's fair boothes.
March, 2004
The world famous Center for Art and Media (
ZKM) in Karlsruhe, which has a reputation amongst Karlsruhers for being too sophisticated and abstract, wanted to become closer to their local audience in Karlsruhe. Therefore a day of open house celebrating their 7 year anniversary was introduced. Special Machine Media was asked to design a poster, ads, flyers, postcards, an physical guidance system as well as other supporting materials.
The word "Open" written in many bright and friendly colors, as well as pictures of the massive building during times of darkness and daylight, beckoned the curious residents of Karlsruhe to come explore the space at the ZKM. The poster can be hung either way: day or night side up. On advertising pilars all over Karlsruhe there were even rows of posters alternately day or night side up. This created a very striking pattern.
The first day of open-house was an overwhelming success with over 7000 visitors in attdendance. If you're interested in learning more about this particluar project, more information is available at
www.zkm.de.
November, 2004
Chocolatier Klein came asked Special Machine for a redesign of their logo coupled with the creation of some supporting promotional materials. Spring and summer are not the best of times for choclatiers, so it was our charge to see if we could turn that around.
With the logo we had to stick with a red oval. We changed the color from a magenta(ish) red to a darker red which looks much more noble. Two new fonts were also used: Carpenter IC, and FF Footlight. For the promotional measures Special Machine conducted a photo shoot where we picked typical events for every month of the year like Easter, Mothers Day or back to school.
Based on those photos we created ads, posters, and the store decoration for each month. As result, we were able to revitalize the brand image of the Confiserie Klein and positively affect their bottom line.
October, 1999
Zapf builds and sells prefabricated houses. They approached Special Machine Media to create an image campaign to help them promote their business.
We designed new ads, came up with the slogan and searched for appropriate photography to effectively communicate the brand value of Zapf. The genius of Zapf is that they make the process of building a house less of a nightmare for everyday people. They take a lot of the headache out of the process to allow the client more peace of mind. The main slogan reads, "It doesn't matter..." The accompanying photo then illustrates sometimes random locations or objects but is coupled with a tag line that solves the riddle.
The result was a very unusual image campaign which was placed in the real estate section of newspapers all over germany. A third party was hired to examine the success of the campaign. Their research suggested an overwhelming response due to the corresponding requests for more information on Zapf products during this time period in the areas where the ads were run. The success was attributed to heightened interest due to the campaign.
September, 1999
