Dear readers,
The events of recent days bring to mind the following passage from a speech by Robert F. Kennedy (NB: RFK Senior, not his son, the designated US Secretary of Health 🤡) from 1966: “There is a Chinese curse which says, ‘May he live in interesting times.’ Like it or not, we live in interesting times…”
We warmly invite everyone who feels like burying their heads in the sand in light of the current situation to continue working with us on shaping and improving the world.
In our opinion, this is best achieved through respect for people and the environment and diverse networks. The necessary “tools” have proven themselves everywhere: openness, integration, communication, honesty, justice, diversity, reliability, charity, cooperation, and tolerance. Self-love alone will not do. Nor will “greenwashing” or ignoring facts.
Warm regards,
Your IDZ Team
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IDZ Member of the Month
Kilian Krug
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Kilian Krug is an information designer and system designer - and particularly enjoys working as a consultant designer in “graphic model making”.
Kilian studied at the UdK Berlin, the HGB Leipzig and in Paris. Since then, he has worked in the fields of interaction design, user experience and orientation for clients who are particularly at home in the fields of health, education, science or innovative technologies and services.
In the context of workshops, he uses graphic means to design thought models with people who want to communicate their specialized knowledge or abstract concepts “as simply as possible” (and as complex as necessary) in a graphically structured way or model them collaboratively.
He is a member of the program advisory board of the Urania Berlin, the Wikimedia Foundation and the Berlin “Buchstabenmuseum”.
All contributions to our “Member of the Month” series can be found on the IDZ website!
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Looking Back: “Berlin is Yellow.”
Book Presentation at the Gallery P98a
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© Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), Oliver Lang
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On 5 November, we invited people to the typographic workshop and Gallery P98a in Berlin for the presentation of the book “Berlin ist Gelb. Das Corporate Design der Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe: Entstehung und Gegenwart.” The authors Bodo Baumgardt, Lars Krüger, Axel Mauruszat, and Erik Spiekermann presented their work.
The IDZ recognized the importance of a visual identity for the city of Berlin from early on. When our then-director, François Burkhardt, invited people to a colloquium on this topic in October 1980, no one anticipated how significantly this event would shape the current visual identity of the BVG – and, consequently, of Berlin itself.
Various IDZ members, especially Erik Spiekermann with his then-young agency MetaDesign, attempted to convince the BVG of the necessity and benefits of a corporate design. Initially unsuccessful, as he told us in our September 2023 interview with Spiekermann.
However, with the fall of the Berlin Wall 35 years ago, things began to change. The rest, as they say, is history... The book tells this unique story and demonstrates how design can provide orientation in times of change.
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Final Call for the
UX Design Awards – Spring 2025
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The deadline has been extended by a few days, but still: time is running out for those who want to participate in the UX Design Awards - Spring 2025. Submissions are open until Monday, 18 November, 23:59 CET.
All information on participation and the competition deadlines can be found on the website of the UX Design Awards.
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German Ecodesign Award
Award Ceremony
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On 2 December, it will be official: The winners of the German Ecodesign Award will be announced!
22 projects have been nominated by the jury and have the chance to be awarded the highest national distinction for ecological design by Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke and UBA President Prof. Dr. Dirk Messner. An online gallery reveals which projects are among the nominees.
After a year-long tour, our traveling exhibition is still on display at TalTech University in Tallinn until 12 November. This marks the end of the current exhibition, which will continue next year with this year’s nominated and award-winning projects.
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Looking Back: IDZ Academy
Sustainable by Design
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This autumn, we invited various specialists in sustainable design to share their expertise at the IDZ Academy. A big thank you to all involved! Lorenz Garbe, jut-so, provided insights into eco-friendly websites, Marcus Morczinietz, wirDesign, discussed inclusive corporate design in the digital realm, Dr. Stephan Kabasci, Fraunhofer UMSICHT, presented the state of research on “biobased plastics,” and Antje Meyer and Lina Reifegerste from sustainable natives held a consultation on “CSRD / Reporting Requirements” and the opportunities this brings for designers and entrepreneurs. Thanks also to Julian Witte, unyt Berlin, and Peter Post, circular-experience.org, for developing workshops on circular economy for product and service design.
For those who missed the series, the 30-minute podcast “Form & Funktion,” for which we were asked a few questions on sustainable design, offers a brief overview of the topic.
The series “Future-Proof Through Sustainable Design – Ecodesign in Theory and Practice” won the Berlin Innovation Challenge 2024. Thanks to the Senate Department for Economic Affairs, Energy, and Enterprises, as well as Berlin Partner, for their support.
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Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung
Podcast “About Bauhaus”
The last year in Berlin: The closure of the Bauhaus. In the final episode of the second season of About Bauhaus, the director of the Bauhaus Archive, Annemarie Jaeggi, is a guest. She discusses one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Bauhaus: the closure of the institution under the pressure of the Nazi regime and the emigration of numerous Bauhaus members.
Pia Betton
#workhacks
Pia Betton, together with Lydia Schueltken and Céline Iding, has launched a new venture: #workhacks. With over 20 years of experience in the design industry, Pia aims to address the common issues of poor collaboration and communication in companies. #workhacks offers a scalable solution with learning videos, live coaching, and online communities to foster trust and improve team efficiency.
FSB
Temporary Les Couleurs® Le Corbusier Online Shop
Until the end of December, a limited number of FSB products in 12 colors from the Les Couleurs® Le Corbusier palette are exclusively available online. For three months, door handle sets from the FSB 1267 product family, as well as towel and coat hooks, can be quickly and easily purchased through a temporary online shop.
IONDESIGN
German Design Award 2025
IONDESIGN has won the German Design Award 2025 in the category Excellent Product Design – Public Design: Congratulations! Their drinking water fountain combines iconic design, ergonomics, and accessibility. It provides access to fresh drinking water in urban spaces, promotes environmentally conscious behavior, and ensures that everyone can use it effortlessly.
Joachim Kobuss
# 52. Design Value Indolence
In his new column, Joachim Kobuss explores the question of why indolence hinders the professional transformation of design value indicators.
Moniteurs
Honorary Professorship for Heike Nehl and Sibylle Schlaich
The students at HBK Saar have every reason to celebrate: Heike Nehl and Sibylle Schlaich were appointed honorary professors for signage and communication in space at the Hochschule der bildenden Künste Saar in October. Congratulations!
WirDesign
Lecture: AI as a Gamechanger for SMEs
How can companies gain a strategic advantage through artificial intelligence? This is the central theme of the specialist conference hosted by the AWS Institute, taking place on 21 November in Saarbrücken, and the focus of the joint keynote by wirDesign and neusinger.AI. In the lecture by Dirk Huesmann and Eduard Singer, participants will learn how artificial intelligence can be used to promote efficiency and innovation.
Beate Woehrle
Creative Intelligence in Healthcare
Through the targeted linking of creativity and healthcare, Beate Woehrle opens up an unused space for solutions. New resources become accessible, relieving every individual area and strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration. She will discuss her strategy as the initiator and editor, together with various experts, from different perspectives in a book project to be published in 2025. For her innovative future concept, she was awarded the NiBB Innovation Prize 2024.
Dear IDZ members: Send us your news – we will happily publish it here!
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Akademie der Künste
bf-preis 2024 – 20 Years bf-preis
On 15 November, the Wilhelm Braun-Feldweg Award for design-critical texts will be presented to Charlotte Singer-Fischer at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. She receives the award for her competition entry, which will be published as a book by niggli Verlag under the title “Between the Lines: KI – schöne neue Zukunft?” The number of places is limited, and admission is free. Please register by email at mail@bf-preis.de.
Akademie der Künste
Double Exhibition: draw love build / sauerbruch hutton tracing modernities
The double exhibition, open until 19 January 2025, showcases around 60 architectural models and approximately 100 drawings of works from three decades by the Berlin architectural team sauerbruch hutton, creating a dialogue with historical visions from the Baukunstarchiv of the Akademie der Künste.
Bröhan-Museum
Design for Children
The exhibition, running from 13 October 2024 to 16 February 2025, showcases how design influences children's upbringing. It features examples from furniture, product, and graphic design with interactive elements for both children and adults. Visitors can discover historical and modern design objects and experience the material world from a child’s perspective.
C/O Berlin
TRÄUM WEITER — BERLIN, DIE 90ER
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 1990s saw profound changes in Berlin, with a young generation reclaiming urban spaces. The ongoing exhibition Träum Weiter – Berlin, die 90er, running until 25 January 2025, captures this dynamic period and presents over 200 photographs from the OSTKREUZ agency.
Das kleine Grosz Museum
Closing After Two and a Half Years
The little Grosz Museum will close its doors at the end of November. This gem opened two and a half years ago in a historic gas station in Schöneberg, near Nollendorfplatz and thus in the midst of Grosz’s world. It features works from the artist’s estate and private collections. Be sure to visit one last time!
Festsaal Kreuzberg
beyond tellerrand
On 7 and 8 November, 500 participants will gather again in a familiar and friendly atmosphere at beyond tellerrand to experience talks at the intersection of creativity and technology, design, and code.
Humboldtforum
Hin und weg. Der Palast der Republik ist Gegenwart
Loved and hated, admired and disparaged: Where the Humboldt Forum stands today, the Palast der Republik once stood, a symbol of political power in the GDR. With the program Hin und weg. Der Palast der Republik ist Gegenwart, the Humboldt Forum dedicates a year-long focus on this vanished place, reflecting on its existence, the question of its demolition, and the construction of the Forum.
Neue Nationalgalerie
Nan Goldin – This Will Not End Well
The retrospective at the Neue Nationalgalerie provides the first comprehensive insight into Nan Goldin's work from 1980 to today, running until 6 April 2025. Her individual series of works are shown as slideshows and films in pavilions designed by Hala Wardé in the upper hall of the Neue Nationalgalerie – each of these “buildings” is designed with reference to the respective series of works, together forming a kind of village.
Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge
Opening of the new permanent exhibition
On 8 November, the Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge opens its new permanent exhibition on the Deutscher Werkbund and product and design culture of the 20th and 21st centuries at its new location in Leipziger Straße 54 in Berlin-Mitte. After the forced move from Kreuzberg to Berlin-Mitte, the museum is once again fully accessible after just under a year.
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National and International
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Halle
Franckesche Stiftungen: Total Real
August Hermann Francke and Christoph Semler founded several schools in Halle around 1700. The exhibition “Total Real. Die Entdeckung der Anschaulichkeit” explores these schools and the models, experiments, and craftsmanship they used to present natural and technical knowledge in a clear and life-oriented way.
Leipzig
Grassi Museum: ZUKÜNFTE – Material und Design von Morgen
The exhibition “ZUKÜNFTE” highlights how design addresses global challenges such as the climate crisis and resource scarcity, running until 24 August 2025. Focusing on bio-circular material design, it showcases projects using mushrooms, algae, and bacteria. The exhibition presents local and international approaches at the intersections of biology, creation, and industry. Three thematic areas on Fiction Design, bio-based materials, and bio-circular products, along with a material lab, offer an optimistic view of possible futures.
München
Pinakothek der Moderne: Eccentric
Bold and free, humorous, touching, or disturbing – the exhibition “Eccentric” shows works by 50 international artists that demonstrate that eccentricity is much more than just strangeness or decadence. It defies all ideology, making it a social motor for freedom and tolerance. Around 100 works from painting, sculpture, installation, video, and design celebrate diversity beyond rigid norms and clichés.
Nürnberg
DB Museum: Unter Druck – Die Geschichte der Zugtoilette
The exhibition “Unter Druck” tells the history of the train toilet in Germany from its beginnings to today, with over 150 exhibits, documents, and photographs on display until 4 May 2025. From the chamber pot from Reich Chancellor Otto von Bismarck's salon car to soap dispensers and toilet paper, to the modern bioreactor. On World Toilet Day, 19 November, there will be a special tour.
Offenbach
Deutsches Ledermuseum: DIE TASCHE
The exhibition “immer dabei: DIE TASCHE” dives into the cultural history of the bag as a widely used everyday item, fashion accessory, and luxury good. Exhibits spanning three millennia – from ancient Egyptian leather pouches, medieval belt bags, and early 19th-century travel bags, to biodegradable plastic shopping bags – tell the story of one of humanity’s oldest and most versatile accessories, running until 10 August 2025.
Stuttgart
Haus der Wirtschaft Baden-Württemberg: FOCUS OPEN
The exhibition BENCHMARKS FÜR DAS NEUE showcases the works awarded the International Design Award Baden-Württemberg FOCUS OPEN 2024 and the Mia Seeger Prize 2024, on display until 24 January 2025.
Wiesbaden
Museum Wiesbaden: Plakatfrauen. Frauenplakate
The exhibition “Plakatfrauen. Frauenplakate” at the Museum Wiesbaden explores the relationship between the poster as an artistic medium and the role of women during the first golden age of German poster art, from 1905 to 1921. The focus is on women as motifs and the works of female poster designers, as well as their new self-confidence and struggle against prejudice, on display until 16 February 2025.
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Trade Fairs and Conferences
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