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INSIGHT

How the RMCC logo was born

The RheinMain CongressCenter is Europe’s most modern event location. Before it opened in April, the center’s development team asked Q to create a simple, powerful visual concept for the new venue.

The RheinMain CongressCenter is Europe’s most modern event location. Before it opened in April, the center’s development team asked Q to create a simple, powerful visual concept for the new venue.

TASK

The RheinMain CongressCenter is located in central Wiesbaden, in the middle of Germany, in the heart of Europe. To make the continent’s most modern event center (with a capacity for 12,500 people) visible as a brand and to encourage companies to book the RMCC for their events, Q's creative team was asked to create a visual identity. Like a product, a new building needs a distinctive and memorable brand image to establish a compelling image for a broad audience of clients and visitors.

PROCESS

Two years ago, soon after construction began, the Rhein Main Hallen GmbH – named after the old event venue in the same location – approached Q and gave us documents, plans, and architectural renderings that summarized the characteristics of the new building. We also met with architect Ferdinand Heide, operations manager Henning Wossidlo, Wiesbaden Marketing manager Martin Michel, and members of the RMCC sales team. With this information, we gained an in-depth understanding of the various possibilities offered by flexible space design. We analyzed the brands of international competitors to ensure visual differentiation. And we hosted workshops to sharpen the brand’s approach and define strategic goals. Based on our intense research, we proposed several design concepts.

SOLUTION 1

In one version, we referred to a striking feature of the RMCC’s architectural concept. Its dramatic 10-meter columns echo other prominent buildings in Wiesbaden: the Kurhaus and the colonnade of the Staatstheater. In addition to its 30-column façade, the building features a large staircase, which reveals an urban axis via a new public passage to the Adelheidstrasse. We united the horizontal lines of the stairs and the vertical lines of the columns in one figurative mark. The horizontal components can be seen as shadows of the upright pillars. Just like a fingerprint, this concept is a unique interpretation of the RMCC’s visual identity.

SOLUTION 2

In another version, we found inspiration in the glamorous entrance area. Its six columns form the framework for the logotype RMCC in extreme vertical arrangement. The color was derived from the previous logo of the Rhein Main Hallen and Wiesbaden’s official palette.

SOLUTION 3

After careful review and detailed discussion, the client decided on a third option: A logo that works as a word and visual signet, consisting of four sets of 90-degree bars that can be read as letters. As in the other solutions, it spins off the architectural concept with its straight, angular structures. The elegant and neutral color was derived from the travertin stone façade and the interior wood paneling. The visual concept does not project itself. Instead it forms a stage for the various events that the new building will present. To complement the square composition of the brand mark, we chose the generously curvy Gotham typeface. The word mark’s right alignment provides stability for the overall impression.

This version is the superior solution. Its reduced design vocabulary can be identified quickly – from a distance, in small proportions, and without color. Considering the venue’s rather complicated name (RheinMain CongressCenter), the client felt confident about Solution 3’s visual purity and graceful merger of type and form. In times of visual satiation, many famous brands simplify their look: In the Audi logo, the shining chrome effect was eliminated, the Hewlett Packard logo was reduced to four strokes, the MasterCard logo was simplified, the Windows logo became colorless and lost its gradients. In general, we support this trend, and we are proud that the RMCC is part of it.

After Solution 3 was confirmed, our team created the new identity’s applications and extensions in several media, from a sales brochure to façade signage. Further applications were implemented by the client, Wiesbaden Marketing GmbH.