As part of our Berlin trip this year, we were really excited and very fortunate to visit Edenspiekermann. For many designers, Edenspiekermann is best known for its work with Monotype's FontShop. The agency motto is 'Design is in our DNA'.
Based in Potsdamer Strasse in central Berlin, the agency specialises in digital products, branding and service design, and is the result of a merger in 2009 between Spiekermann Partners (founded by the typographer Erik Spiekermann), and Dutch design agency Eden.
Martin Stadler
Director of Brand Consulting Martin Stadler kicked off the afternoon with a great talk to our 32 students. His presentation focussed on a recent project - HIAG Data - which featured a new brand identity, bespoke typeface design, and an innovative web design for a Swiss-based data hosting company.
Martin Stadler talking about the brand experience.
Martin explained Edenspiekermann's approach to branding as having four key elements - storytelling, brand experience, design & identity, and development. He discussed how the agency worked with HIAG during the research phase, and the way that this led to the development of a 'visual language' for the brand which the client could be directly involved in.
As well as going into great detail about the art direction and storytelling concept behind the project, Martin showed the students how the design ideas developed and were improved or rejected, including many iterations of the typeface and the screen designs which didn't make it into the final product.
"We see failure as something that's necessary because it drives you to the right solution." - Martin Stadler
Bastian Boss
Martin's colleague Bastian Boss was up next, to talk about his area of expertise, Service Design. He gave some great examples of how research is key to this emerging area of design. and how Edenspiekermann use the technique of 'cultural probes' to collect the key insights into how users experience a given service or product. A big part of process was analysing the design impact that the work had upon the end users."Things are changing fast in Service Design, so for sure, we are continually adapting our tools and methods." - Bastian Boss
Bastian presented a case study for NS Pro Rail (Nederlandse Spoorwegen, the Dutch national railway) which tackled the signage and experience issues we all associate with waiting for, and boarding, trains. You can read more about Bastian's approach to Service Design in a great article he wrote about it here.
Bastian explaining his approach to Service Design.
Internships
There was also an added bonus with the introduction of Julian Thiel, a design student, who talked about his experiences on a three-month internship at the agency. Julian explained that although a high level of work was demanded of him, the ability to fit into a team and to be able to tackle a wide range of different design challenges, were really important. In return for this level of commitment, Edenspiekermann generously pays its interns at double the standard rate in Berlin."One of the main things I've learned here is to argue for your design decisions." - Julian Thiel
After the talks our hosts held a great Q&A and covered everything from applying for an internship, customising your portfolio, to the continuous skills development necessary these days in design, to the benefits of working in collaborative multi-disciplined (and often multi-cultural) teams. This was a fantastic experience for the students and a great example of how industry can support and help develop design education.
The Edenspiekermann Berlin Kitchen Experience!
Martin offers up some words of wisdom after the talk.
Design Tutors Alex Gunn (l) and Chris Hughes (r) with Martin Stadler.
More:
HIAG Data case study
NS Pro Rail case study
