A system for greater connectedness

Business

Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), the public broadcasting corporation of the Free State of Bavaria, is ARD’s fourth largest broadcaster. With several radio stations, TV stations and extensive online offerings, as well as two orchestras and a choir, BR enriches the German media landscape.

In 2022, Bayerischer Rundfunk commissioned Stan Hema to develop an overarching design system so that the diversity of what it offers would be immediately recognisable to the general public. The aim was to position the Bayerischer Rundfunk umbrella brand as a contemporary, cross-media and sustainable media provider for everyone in the state.

The rebranding marks a strategic change: for the first time, all the services and activities are consistently associated with the BR umbrella brand. That not only makes Bayerischer Rundfunk more visible, but also gives it a sustainable positioning. Stan Hema worked on the development and implementation of the overarching brand design in an interdisciplinary manner in co-creation with BR's expert teams and the agencies involved. The visual brand heritage – consisting of the BR logo, the colour blue and the corporate typeface The Sans – has been carefully modernised and further developed. The three basic geometric shapes of the BR logo – circle, square and triangle – were used to create a modular design kit with a continuous grid. Its simplicity creates order and at the same time allows for variety within the unit.

The reduction to the essentials gives the umbrella brand the power to focus all the attention on the content. Design consistently follows function – clear-cut, puristic and free from distraction and gimmicks. The result: BR’s new visual language is strong, confident and clear.