Balancing the tradition and history of Borussia Dortmund with the love, intensity and fighting spirit of the beloved club today, the new brand evolves BVB for fans in Germany, and beyond. Together we go all in.
Borussia Dortmund, known by fans across the world as BVB, is one of Germany’s most successful and popular football clubs, finishing second in Germany’s top tier league–the Bundesliga–in 2023. Idolised for their attacking style of play, passionate supporters, and success on both domestic and international stages, they hold a special place in the hearts of football fans everywhere.
Looking to grow their brand to become more current, attractive and relevant, BVB approached DesignStudio to help enhance their strategy, build a compelling story and evolve their brand.
Sinead Kirby, Senior Strategist at DesignStudio said, “Founded in 1909, BVB were beloved for being the underdogs in a world where football was about tradition and local community. Their promise–Eichte Liebe, or ‘Real Love’– spoke to the devotion and loyalty of the fans, the players and the club.
Fast forward over a century to a culture where football is international and not just about love, but also about commercial success. BVB’s impressive performance means they’re certainly no longer the underdogs, but they are still challengers. Our task was to bring these two worlds together to revive the BVB passion and retell their story.”
Our strategy positions BVB as ‘The Black and Yellow community, together we go all in’. It symbolises the iconic roots and identity, the united force and collective power of their team and their fans whose colourful and vibrant support is unrivalled, and powerfully expresses their attitude which always gives 100% and never gives up. Echte Liebe remains the singular reason BVB exists, reinvigorating and uniting the club around their ultimate devotion that cannot be bought.
Vinay Mistry, Executive Creative Director at DesignStudio, said, “BVB’s existing identity was limited to a logo that was designed to sit statically in a stadium. They needed a full system that could live across every touch point and engage fans, from Dortmund to the Dominican Republic. Our design sympathetically modernises BVB, capturing the challenger attitude that makes it so iconic and beloved, and boldly evolving it for the fans of today, and the future.”
Lorenzo Di Cola, Design Director at DesignStudio said, “Our visual system is based on one of BVB’s most iconic assets –the Die Gelbe Wand, or ‘Yellow Wall’– which perfectly symbolises the club’s collective power and community. The 34º angle of the standing terrace at Signal Induna Park becomes our angle of attack throughout the system, from logo to motion, and captures BVB’s intensity and fighting spirit.”
Inspiration from the forms of Signal Induna Park continues through the graphic device. Striking a balance between letterforms and a visual representation of the home of BVB, it is a contemporary marque used both in isolation and through the brand’s pattern language.
Collaborating with Blaze Type, we created a custom typeface suite featuring the 34º angle of attack, which also forms the base for the new Borussia Dortmund word mark. The system represents the fighting spirit of BVB with a headline typeface featuring distinctive ‘Intensity Characters’ balanced against a more functional body type. Our number system is inspired by the horizontals and diagonals of the graphic device to retain visual consistency.
The primary palette retains the iconic black and yellow that BVB are so famous for, but introduces an extended palette featuring neons and greys that are inspired by the colours of the stadium, vintage BVB shirts and the city. The industrial landscape of Dortmund also inspires a new suite of textures. Meanwhile, art direction across all images – from action shots to player portraits – work across three levels to capture everyday events, times of intensity and passion, and expressive refraction through the angle of the BVB device to capture the historic moments.
The new BVB brand is now live.
Source: DesignStudio
Evolving one of the world’s most iconic football clubs: DesignStudio rebrands Borussia Dortmund added by newsroom on
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