A global stage for regional film culture

Media and Publishing

Hessen Film & Medien stands for artistic courage, support for young talent, diversity and transparent structures. The funding initiative networks with local associations and institutions and supports the film industry through cooperation with cinemas, festivals and archives. With a new corporate design, Stan Hema has made this passion for film visible: with strong colours and contrasts, striking typography and cinematic imagery.

In January 2016, the three film funding associations of Hessischer Rundfunk and the Hessian Ministry of Science and the Arts merged to form Hessen Film & Medien GmbH. The aim was to strengthen the cultural innovative power and economic performance of filmmakers in Hesse and in particular to promote productions by producers and co-producers based in Hesse.

In the first phase, in 2021, Stan Hema developed the corporate design with clear design guidelines for the logo, colours, typeface, business cards and stationery. Based on that, a website was created that embodied the brand essence of Hessen Film & Medien: clear, approachable, extroverted and artistic. The implementation combined user-friendly UX design, content transparency and simplified application processes for filmmakers. One special highlight is the Natural Grotesk typeface by Non Foundry, whose extravagant ‘&’ ensures strong recognition value. Large-format, expressive film stills and trailers transfer the emotions of the cinema screen directly to the website, creating an impressive visual experience.

To add the finishing touch to the holistic new identity of Hessen Film & Medien, we developed the appropriate brand language to act as a counterpart to the visual language. The result: a tone of voice with matching promo and UX copy that provides orientation and is fun to read.

The cross-trade process was co-created with the developers at Team neusta. The new design premiered as part of the 2023 Berlinale.