Hfg Design Museum – Corporate Identity

The HfG Archive Ulm is the archive and museum of the “Hochschule für Gestaltung” of Ulm, active in the years bewteen 1953 and 1968.

The so called “hfg”,  was able in only 15 years to radically change the way “design” is intended, thought, taught and made nowadays. Inge Scholl, Max Bill and Otl Aicher had a strong social goal: to forge a new society after the second World War, to start from zero, the so called “Stunde Null”. This radical purpose was realized also by a revolution of the teaching structure, made by keeping in mind one main idea: the designer is not an artist, and the design of a product is not limited to its aesthetic or its function, there is much more behind; there is the need of a wider understanding of the market, the social context, the psychological impact this object would have on our lives. Here the term “Visual Communication” was forged, here the so called “Design Process” was created. In conclusion, a new approach, made of steps, interactions, and analysis, was experimented and taught at the hfg.

On this iconic didactic model, the “Ulm Model”, is based the new corporate identity design for the institution. The “hfg design museum ” seeks to open itself up to a wider audience and “design the process” is chosen as leading tagline.

The designed custom typeface follows the rational and geometrical approach, the graphic exercises of the Foundation course, the modular thinking of the school; the bright red seeks to make the institution stand out.

Posters, the flyer, the website, the social media account, several give aways, were all part of the museum’s redesign process.