WINNER: THE CORPORATE BOOK OF KNOBLAUCH
As a company our origin lies in manual craft, and today our more than 230 employees develop and build brand-specific furnishing concepts for shops, restaurants and companies. These are the two elements that our slogan “IDENTITY, HANDCRAFTED” refers to.
The idea behind the Knobi book is based on this slogan, and large, full-page portraits of our employees reflect the “identity” element. After all, it is they who make up the identity of our company. The photo cards of completed projects in a built-in drawer at the end of the book show the spatial brand identities of our customers.
NO BOOK IS LIKE ANY OTHER
The “handcrafted” theme is reflected in the design of the book – the drawer, the open binding, the high-quality finish and of course the cover. The main thing was for the cover of the book to have a handcrafted look. Wood turned out to be too simple and too common; paper with a stone, wood or metal look and feel appeared too inauthentic. And so the only option we had left was to make the cover ourselves. We tinkered in our workshop until we did it: rusting paper. And so, in close consultation with the print shop, we created 500 individual fronts and backs. No book is like any other. Every book has its own identity, which in turn matches our logo.
For us, the book’s internal impact is as important as its external impact. Because we developed the book cover ourselves and many colleagues were involved (be it as craftsmen or as models), it really is “our” book.
SPECIAL MENTION: THE CORPORATE DESIGN OF SHOP SYSTEMS
Shop Systems is a supplier of modular shop fitting systems. In order to visually stand out from the competition, a new corporate design was introduced in July 2016. The new design heavily features the initials of the company, Shop Systems. They are represented in the logo with an abstract letter “S”, which can be found throughout the office equipment in the form of blind embossing.
The concept is based on an association with display window letterings: While they are easy to read when you’re outside the shop, they can still be seen from the inside but are the wrong way around.
THE IDENTITY OF THE BRANDS IN THE ROOM
The new slogan “parts for your identity” refers to the fact that now almost 80% of delivered parts are tailored and custom-made and that fewer and fewer off-the-peg catalogue items are sold. After all, the shop-fitting systems themselves are an important part of brand identity in the room.
The GERMAN BRAND AWARD is initiated by the German Design Council, an independent and internationally active institution that supports companies in efficiently communicating design expertise and also aims to strengthen the public’s understanding of design. The German Design Council was set up as a foundation in 1953 at the initiative of the German Bundestag by the Federation of German Industries and a number of leading companies; with its competitions, exhibitions, conferences, seminars and publications, it promotes design and brands. The group of benefactors of the German Design Council currently includes more than 280 German and international companies.
The GERMAN BRAND AWARD is presented by the German Brand Institute, whose goal it is to strengthen the significance of the brand as a critical success factor for companies in the national and international competition landscape.
