Cut… and thank you!
Along with our new program director Olaf Brodersen, the FITS Europe is also getting a new logo. The most striking difference between the old and the new version is their statement. Responsible for the new look is AIB’s in-house communication designer Fabian Zöller. Let’s hear about his design process and his inspiration:
Fabian, what was your reaction when you came to know about designing a new FITS logo?
When Olaf decided to have the old logo redesigned, I was thrilled! The old one is okay, but it was just that: Old. It did not stand the test of time and it just existed in a non-scalable pixel version. So it was only usable for the web but completely useless for high-quality prints.
Did you have already something in mind when you started your work on the new logo?During my research and sketching process I reviewed a lot of film- and movie-related logos, and there are tons of them out there. Most of the existing logos in the film industry show either abstract versions of a film reel or a film stripe, and I have to admit that my first ideas also went in this direction.
Anyway, I wanted the new FITS logo to be significant and stand out in the crowd. The logo should be good looking in smaller and bigger proportions and I wanted to use a reduced color scheme, or perhaps just black and white.
What was your inspiration for the final version of the logo?
When it comes to logo design I rely on “KISS: Keep it simple & stupid”, so I focused on one thing that gets along with the history of motion picture from the very beginning: the camera.
The new logo is inspired by the picture you have when you look through a camera’s view-finder. It is minimal and puts the various disciplines of Cinematography, Editing, Directing and Production clearly into one signet. The same applies for the FITS Europe which offers students an extraordinary opportunity to study the art of Film production in a European setting.
What about the typography, why did you choose this one?
The name of the school, positioned to the right of the logomark, has a clear, characteristic and minimal typography in capitals with slightly rounded corners as often used for film and video, for instance in subtitling.
In addition to the typography I wanted to keep the basic colors of the new logo to black and white: On the one hand as a challenging alternative to the common full-color graphic overflow in some logos and on the other hand to pay homage to the era of black-and-white movies.
Did you try out many ways to visualize your ideas?
All in all I suggested four completely different logo looks to Olaf to show him in what different directions the new one could go. Luckily, after he reviewed my layouts and we discussed the designs we agreed to pick this one, which is also my favorite!
In the end the overall look of the new logo is perfect for the FITS Europe. The signet is very pretty to look at… both on black and on white background and it doesn’t really require an explanation: It’s about film making!
As the “father” of the new logo: Can we expect further changes to the FITS Europe visual identity?
Of course you can! Right now we are working on an improved version of the FITS Europe website which will go live in a few days. So stay tuned for more updates and news on the FITS Europe via the AIB website!
(The complete logo design process can be viewed here!)
