In 2021, we developed a comprehensive corporate design program for the Deutsches Schloss- und Beschlägemuseum (“German lock and fittings museum”) in Velbert, ranging from a permanent exhibition and website to advertising materials.

A lock connects inside and outside – this is exactly the principle behind the new layout system. One part of the objects on display remains concealed within the form, while the other part protrudes beyond the form. In this way, the design allows maximum flexibility with a high recognition value.

CA Saygon Display in use on a poster, designed by Thomas Junold, announcing a exhibition by students from the Design department of the Hochschule Niederrhein in Krefeld, Germany.

{ths} created a proposal for the new corporate design for the Sprengel Museum Hannover, as an entry for a design competition announced by the state capital Hanover.

The basis of our proposal is a very flexible design system with a maximum recognition value. The new logo of the Sprengel Museum Hannover is not an independent element but a part of the flexible system and can be changed according to requirements – it retains its recognition in every set form. The corporate design is designed in such a way that even without a logo, the museum is unambiguously identifiable.

Together with our type foundry Cape Arcona we developed a typographic system with several corporate and custom fonts including a font for the logo, title and body text. Our goal was to develop a simple, traceable system that works on posters, posters, advertisements, flyers, tickets and other media. High recognition and high flexibility in the conversion of all print media.

The SMH-A typeface was developed especially for this project. This custom typeface is used for the logo as well as for all exhibition titles and headlines. It ensures the strongest recognition effect; the new logo of the museum would also be set in SMH-A, thus making exhibition titles and headlines an extension of the logo. Even without a logo — only by placing an exhibition title — the Sprengel Museum Hannover is recognizable again. The use of the typeface for both titles logo allows content and institution to grow together into one big one.

The SMH-A typeface was later renamed to CA Saygon Display and CA Saygon Text and made available as a retail typeface.

The Forum Innopreneurship is an initiative of the IDE at the University of Duisburg-Essen. The long-term goal of the forum is to create a start-up centre and network in which knowledge from research is transferred into concrete projects and start-up concepts.

The appearance represents the dynamic approach of the Forum Innopreneurship through a very flexible design. With a mixture of permanent and changeable parts, a design with a high recognition value is created, which at the same time leaves room for new, complementary and supplementary design elements. An incomplete set of shapes and graphic elements invites ever new combinations. The playfully dynamic approach, the typography and the signet are unifying elements.

See more images in the case study by Sichtvermerk.