Football museum given new name and logo

The new branding, unveiled by the DFB Football Museum Foundation at the cornerstone ceremony for the museum building attended by DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach and league president Dr Reinhard Rauball, will be introduced by autumn 2013. The new livery was created by communications agency Blumberry with its design brand minigram.

Manuel Neukirchner, general manager of the DFB Football Museum Foundation, said: "Our museum strives to give German football both past and present a permanent public space. This lofty all-embracing goal is reflected in the new name of German Football Museum." He added: "The particular attraction of the word mark lies in the blending of the dynamic sport of football with the medium of the museum. Football and culture merge into one concept. Football has long been a constituent part of culture and the new name emphasises that."

The core element of the new logo is an artistically designed ball made up of black, red and gold honeycomb patterns. No two honeycombs are the same. They all stand alone and yet in interaction with the others still form a unit. The three-line arrangement of the name forms a kind of podium for the ball, which is instantly recognisable thanks to its artistic design and whose colours underline the museum's national alignment.

#bild#"Our word and picture mark is highly aesthetic and models the German colours vibrantly, but never garishly, into a sculpted ball that lends the logo the desired meaning," said Neukirchner, summing up the positive vote for the new branding. The honeycomb structure in the logo creates a reference to the museum architecture. The perforated façade of the building will also contain hexagonal panels conveying the shape of a football.

Although the museum will be detached from the umbrella brand of the German Football Association, the DFB will remain visible as the initiator of the future German Football Museum. Neukirchner: "Our new word logo will combine wonderfully well with the branding of both the DFB and the Bundesliga in the form of a composite logo. Visitors will know that the German Football Museum is supported by the whole of German football." The DFB and the City of Dortmund are partners in the museum, which is due to open by the end of 2014.

The contract to design the logo was won by Blumberry with its design brand minigram. Blumberry was founded as a communications agency in March 2011 and is part of Commarco, one of the leading communications and marketing holdings in Germany. Managing partner Lutz Meyer said: "Being able to accompany and shape this important project is a very enticing task. We are delighted our creative ideas won the confidence of the Foundation!" The DFB Football Museum Foundation will work with Blumberry to implement its new branding by autumn 2013.