Opinion BY Armin

Energizing Eindhoven

Because my knowledge of Eindhoven is minimal, here is a slightly edited Wikipedia description: “Eindhoven is a municipality and a city located in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, originally at the confluence of the Dommel and Gender streams. The city had 218,559 inhabitants (November 2012) and 261,082 if adjacent Veldhoven is included, making it the fifth-largest city of the Netherlands and the largest of North Brabant.” A new identity for the city has been launched by Eindhoven365, an organization that combines the operations of CityDynamiek and Eindhoven VVV (the regional tourist bureau) to establish a “clear city marketing strategy for the purpose of creating a strong brand policy and brand perception for the city of Eindhoven”. The identity and strategy have been designed by the “Virtual Design Agency”, a collaboration of various local individuals and firms. For additional information and process images, a comprehensive Tumblr has been going on for a few months.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Dutch King Gets His Day in the Sun

On April 30, 2013, Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand (Willem-Alexander to friends and press) became the King of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (the Netherlands to friends and bloggers) as his mother, Queen Beatrix, abdicated the throne after 33 years. Willem-Alexander is the first King to take the throne in 123 years. For his inauguration day and the days leading up to it, the City of Amsterdam worked with Amsterdam-based Koeweiden Postma on the “dressing” of the city to celebrate the occasion.

Continue reading this entry

Friday Likes BY Armin

Friday Likes 30

The first Friday Likes of the year come from Canada, The Netherlands, and Mexico and provide a good mix of lighthearted and serious and hand-made and computer-made.

Continue reading this entry

A B-Side BY Armin

De Telefoongids BV

About: “De Telefoongids BV is the incumbent company and market leader for local search and lead generating in the Netherlands. It publishes combined directories for businesses, products, services and residentials on Internet, print and mobile.” (AKA, the Dutch Yellow Pages).

Design by: VBAT.

Ed.’s Notes: Not much to note.

Relevant links: Press Release (in Dutch).

Thanks to Roy Swinkles for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Boom goes the Sans

Established in 1800, the Rijksmuseum (State Museum in English) in Amsterdam is home to more than 900,000 items in its collection, including a large amount of masterpieces from the Dutch Golden Age from artists like Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Hals. Housed in an 1827 building, the Rijksmuseum has been under renovation since 2003 and next year will see its reopening with a design by Spanish architects Cruz y Ortiz. Yesterday, Rijksmuseum introduced their new logo and identity, designed by Irma Boom with custom lettering by Paul van der Laan of Bold Monday, replacing the 32-year-old logo designed by Studio Dumbar.

Continue reading this entry

A B-Side BY Armin

ProJuventute

Established in 1947, ProJuventute is a non-profit organization in the Netherlands that gathers money to fund innovative activities for children and young people in trouble. The new identity was designed by The Hague-based Designink. More images here.

Thanks to Marc Nijborg for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Stedelijk Museum Spells Out the Obvious

Established in 1895, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (“Municipal Museum Amsterdam”) is a museum for classic modern art, contemporary art, and design in Amsterdam. Currently closed, until September of this year, for a major renovation and expansion by Mels Crouwel of Benthem Crouwel Architects that will adapt the 117-year-old building with a new structure, the Stedelijk will be able to showcase its permanent collection that includes works by Vincent van Gogh, Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, and Jackson Pollock, among others. In late April the museum announced a new logo, designed by the website-less Mevis & Van Deursen, and was immediately met with discontent, gathering more than 300 comments in this Facebook post. Not much other information has been released.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Kids will be Kids will be Brand Assets

Established in 1975, Catalpa Kinderopvang (Catalpa Childcare) is one of the largest professional childcare organizations in the Netherlands, providing day care, after school care, and child-minding for more than 18,000 children aged 0 to 13 years across 220 locations that employ 2,300 people. Catalpa introduced a new identity earlier this year designed by Amsterdam-based Koeweiden Postma.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

The Dot Marks the Spot

Established in 1838, the Centraal Museum in Utrecht is the oldest municipal museum in the Netherlands with an eclectic collection of old and new items — nearly 50,000 — ranging from 18th century fashion to an early twentieth-century ship stored in the basement to a special collection and wing on the work of Dick Bruna, creator of the adorable Miffy. At the end of last year the Centraal Museum introduced a new identity, designed by Amsterdam-based Lesley Moore.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Rietje Gieskes

NNewly Redesigned

Nationale Nederlanden, one of the Netherlands’ largest insurance and asset management companies, recently replaced its logo, in use since 1970, with a modified version. The new logo signals a strategic repositioning as a friendlier company, more customer-centric and transparent in its policies than before.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Colorful Insurance

Established in 1956 FBTO is one of the largest insurance companies in the Netherlands with more than half a million policy holders. A popular benefit of FBTO is the ability to go straight online and define your insurance policy on the spot — a process that accounts for 60% of FBTO’s business — meaning there is no third party contracting or haggling with insurance salespeople. This month FBTO introduced a new identity designed by Amsterdam-based VBAT and a new online and offline campaign created by agencies Qi and ONLY.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Van Gogh’s Brush Strokes

Established in 1973 in Amsterdam, the Van Gogh Museum holds over 200 paintings as well as drawings and letters of Vincent van Gogh. More than 1.5 million people visit every year, making it the most visited museum in the Netherlands and, according to research by The Art Newspaper, it is the 23rd most visited museum in the world. Earlier this month the museum introduced a new identity designed by Amsterdam-based Koeweiden Postma.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Rietje Gieskes

Hammer Time, is Over

If you live in the Netherlands and are in need of a new set of tools or paint supplies, you may find yourself heading to a newly rebranded Praxis. The popular hardware store chain consists of 136 stores, including some smaller franchises and 26 megastores. The new design has quietly appeared with little explanation or fanfare.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

TNT Post Carries On by Itself

With roots as far back as 1752, chronologically, and Australia, geographically, TNT Post is the official mail carrier in The Netherlands, owned by TNT Group, who also operate TNT Express. Employing 77,000 people, TNT Post processes “8.8 billion addressed postal items (including 100 million parcels) each day and delivers to more than 88 million addresses in the Benelux, Germany, the UK and Italy.” Last week, TNT Group announced that TNT Post will begin to work as an independent company, starting on May 31, 2011 and will be renamed PostNL. The identity will be implemented first in The Netherlands, and later in the other countries it operates in.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Zoo in Disguise

Founded in 1838, Natura Artis Magistra (Latin for “Nature is the Teacher of Art”) located in Amsterdam is the oldest zoo in the Netherlands. Home to 900 species it also has a botanical garden, a planetarium, an art collection, a geological museum, and a zoological museum. Currently undergoing a major renovation, Artis has introduced a new identity designed by Amsterdam-based Van Lennep.

Continue reading this entry

Guest Opinion by Mark Holtmann Posted BY Brand New

Two Triangles are Better than One

The Dutch public broadcasting organization VPRO (an acronym that translates into “Liberal Protestant Radio Broadcasting Company”) started its life in 1926 as a religious radio broadcaster. Over the years it became more liberal and less religious until, in the sixties, it planted itself firmly in the avant-garde by being the first television broadcaster showing a nude woman on national television. Since then the VPRO never left its nonconformist role, with slight stubbornness purposefully choosing those programs, topics and formats that the other broadcasting companies passed over. Although not well known outside of the Netherlands, the VPRO is the real deal. It continuously airs intelligent, cultural and quirky programs, the stuff that makes TV interesting.

Continue reading this entry