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(Work) 04 · Graphic design

Sprachschule

A brand identity for a German language school in Berlin: one voice that welcomes people from every language.

Personal project · language school · Berlin

Brand identityLogo designPrintDigital
Role
Graphic Designer
Type
Personal project
Scope
Logo, colour, type, visual elements
Applications
Print and digital
A tote bag hanging on a sunlit wall, printed with the Sprachschule speech-bubble mark in yellow, red and blue.

(The question)

How do you give a language school one voice in a city that speaks so many languages?

(The story in 28 seconds)

From Problem to Solution

01 · The problem

A short brand film. Grey speech bubbles saying hello in many languages crowd the screen and gather in the middle. Six coloured speech bubbles fly in and overlap into the Sprachschule mark, and the wordmark appears below it. Then the identity is shown on a poster, business cards, a tote bag, a brochure, a phone and a website, and the film ends on the white logo on dark blue.

01 · The problem

Many Languages, No Single Voice

  • Berlin is home to people from all over the world, each with their own language.
  • A language school has to feel open and welcoming to all of them, before they speak a word of German.
  • It needs an identity that is clear, friendly and easy to recognise on every surface.

The solution

Speech Bubbles That Spell the Name

  • The p of Sprachschule is a speech bubble: the name itself starts a conversation.
  • Bubbles in yellow, red and blue overlap like voices in a conversation.
  • One flexible system for stationery, posters, signage and the web.

Context

The brief

Design the complete visual identity of a German language school in Berlin: logo, colour, typography, visual elements and the main applications.

Audience

People from many countries who want to learn German in Berlin, and need a place that feels friendly and trustworthy from the first contact.

Goal

An identity that feels open and international, rooted in Berlin, and simple enough to stay recognisable at every size.

Note

A personal project. I designed everything except the illustrations of people, which come from a free template, and the photos of people in the brochure, posters and website, which are stock images.

02 · My role

Graphic Designer

I created the whole identity on my own: research and moodboard, the logo and mark, colour and typography, the visual elements and every application, from business cards to the website.

03 · Process

Moodboard → Logo → System → Applications

Moodboard: Berlin as the Starting Point

The moodboard draws on the city: its yellow U-Bahn trains, the red of Berlin, bold graphic shapes and playful characters.

Moodboard with a yellow Berlin U-Bahn train, red, yellow and blue geometric shapes, a Berlin sign with the bear, and colourful illustrated characters.
References: Berlin's colours, transport and street culture.

Logo: From Typeface to Mark

I tested typefaces from blackletter to a geometric sans, and chose a bold, friendly sans. The p of Sprachschule became a speech bubble, and the l of "language" a yellow bar that links both words.

Logo sheet: typeface explorations, wordmark versions with different icons, the final wordmark with a yellow p and l, the overlapping speech-bubble mark and the single yellow bubble.
Typeface explorations, wordmark versions, the final logo and the mark.

Colour & Visual Elements

Yellow, red and blue, each with an 80% tint, give the system warmth and energy. The speech bubbles, as p and q, solid or open, become a flexible graphic language.

Colour palette: yellow, red and blue, each at 100% and 80%.
Colour palette.
Four speech-bubble elements: a red p, a yellow bubble, a blue bubble and a light-yellow q.
Visual elements.

The solution

One Identity, Many Touchpoints

Stationery set: envelopes and business cards with the logo and speech bubbles.
Stationery
Business cards in red, yellow, white and blue, each with a speech-bubble p.
Business cards
A4 folder with the Sprachschule wordmark and large speech-bubble shapes in yellow, red and blue.
Folder
Poster on a sunlit wall: Learn languages, connect better, with the speech-bubble mark.
Poster
Dark blue poster: Your language journey starts here.
Poster
Open trifold brochure with course information and the word welcome in many languages.
Trifold brochure
Roll-up banner with the logo, course list and speech bubbles.
Roll-up banner
Yellow poster with large speech bubbles in red, blue and cream.
Poster
Hands holding a phone showing the school's mobile site with course types and illustrations.
Mobile site
Laptop showing the school's website: Your language journey starts here.
Website

04 · Outcome

What I Delivered

A complete, ready-to-use identity system.

1logo system: wordmark, mark and versions on colour
3brand colours, each with a tint
10+print and digital applications

05 · Reflection

What I Learned

  • One simple idea, the speech bubble, can carry a whole identity, as long as it works at every size.
  • Building the system first (logo, colour, shapes) made every new application faster to design and consistent.
  • For a multilingual audience, shapes and colour do more of the talking than words.