ARD Logos

When Munich-based design agency Luxlotusliner was tasked with redesigning ARD’s logos, Luc(as) de Groot was asked for advice and fine-tuning.

Firstly, the project was a redesign of the main ARD logo, which would be the starting point for a logo series. Luc(as) developed a special variant of TheSans for all of ARD’s logos based on the newly edited A, R and D.

Luc(as) also made subtle optical adjustments to the circle and the number 1 in the logo.

ARD (short for Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is a German public broadcasting association consisting of nine regional broadcasters and an international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle. In addition to operating Das Erste as a joint television program, each regional broadcaster has its own range of television and radio programs. ARD was founded in 1950 and, together with ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) and Deutschlandradio, forms Germany’s public broadcasting.

The fine-tuning of the three initial letters was complex. How do A, R and D relate to one another? Are the white spaces harmonious? The distances between the letters and the circle had to be balanced. In addition to working in all sizes, the logo system also had to accomodate all-caps and mixed case extensions underneath the logo and to its right. The vertical and horizontal spacing in relation to the main logo needed to be precisely defined. This included the line spacing and, of course, the spacing between all the letters.

If the first three letters are set up with their spacing, that does not mean that their spacing also fits words. So as he encountered new letter combinations in ARD’s many logos, Luc(as) had to continue defining new rules for the letter spacing. As he revised the letter shapes, the entire font became harmoniously redesigned.

A series of over 50 logos was developed between January and March 2020. It was a systematic design process between font and logo design; an iterative process between LucasFonts and Luxlotusliner, the design agency responsible for the redesign.

The result is an exclusive font from LucasFonts containing the entire logo system from Luxlotusliner, with which future ARD logos can also be added to the brand family.

Many thanks to ARD and Luxlotusliner for the rewarding collaboration!