Borussia Dortmund reveals updated brand

In a bid to become more current, attractive and relevant, the world-renowned German football team turned to global agency DesignStudio to build a new and compelling story that aptly evolves the Bundesliga club’s brand.

Renowned for its iconic black and yellow club colours, Borussia Dortmund – also known as BVB – is now positioned as ‘The Black and Yellow community, together we go all in’. Its purpose is to symbolise the identity, roots and united force of the football team and its fans.

The club’s 81,000-capacity Signal Iduna Park stadium, which hosts the intimidating ‘Yellow Wall’ of fans, inspired much of the work. The 34-degree angle of its enormous standing terrace was utilised throughout the graphic system, from logo to motion.

Vinay Mistry, executive creative director at DesignStudio, says, “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 touchpoint 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.”

Following in this vein, DesignStudio worked with French type foundry Blaze Type to craft a custom typeface that could host the ‘34-degree angle of attack’, as seen in the new wordmark. Its headline typeface, meanwhile, includes ‘Intensity Characters’ designed to balance with functional body type.

Elsewhere, an extended colour palette of neons and greys are introduced to complement the famous black and yellow. Inspired by the colours of the stadium and the club’s home city of Dortmund, the area’s industrial landscape also lends itself to the new suite of textures.

Sinead Kirby, senior strategist at DesignStudio, adds, “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.”