Studio Gruhl dives back into Berlin’s 1990s techno scene in an identity for Spellbound

Studio Gruhl’s creative process is has always been “very research driven”, founder Malte Gruhl tells us. “We are all part of culture and need to understand and‬ communicate where our influences come from and why we want to tap into them or adapt them‬‭ to create something new and interesting,” he says.

When DJ and founder of Spellbound Shaleen reached out to the branding and digital design studio to help build her new techno label, Gruhl’s research and culture-led outlook came to the fore. To define a very local, female-led label in Berlin within what continues to be a male-dominated space in the music industry, the team set out to find a unique visual voice for the startup with their usual deep dive.

Something that stood out about Shaleen to the team was her vinyl-only sets – a symbol of the electronic scene’s heyday, a time when “techno‬ was played in abandoned houses or empty factory buildings”, says Malte. Using this as a starting point, the studio looked back to the 90s era of techno in Berlin as a site for their visual foraging. “Whether it’s quite raw, brutal 3D elements coming from digital art and VJ sets before the‬‭ internet, or a slightly off-colour palette, everything always traces back to the 90s,” Malte continues.

The studio started off with an underlying collection of visual elements: a simple base layer grid, a colour palette, typeface and logomark that could all work together seamlessly, and in isolation. Components of the identity – like Spellbound’s robust new logomark – remained constant and reliable across the range of applications needed, ready for the studio to bring in a set of alluring 3D assets and motion elements into the brand’s visual library.

Abstract patterns, textures and shapes – all with a glorious early-internet feel – make up the more illustrative parts of the visual identity, and they were created around three core brand concepts: “Attitudes of Berlin, traces of Berlin and colours of the city,” Malte tells us. “For‬ example, for ‘traces of Berlin’, we scanned in ripped posters and textures we found on the‬ streets, then rebuilt them in 3D or used them as visual overlays across the artwork.”

Whilst these elements were raw and certainly resonated with Berlin’s techno scene, it was important that they were fully adaptable – “a bit like a collage”, in order for the brand to be future proof. “When we create a brand identity from scratch for new brands, we need to keep in‬ mind that their strategy often adapts”, explains Malte, “and we need to give them enough freedom in our work so‬ that our design system can adapt to these changes.‬”

Gruhl’s initial background structure acts like a “canvas” on which more or less of these 50 different assets that the studio created can be added. “It’s a bit like a volume scale – Spellbound can turn up the volume by adding more,” Malte says, also allowing for other designers or artists in a co-branded space (like a label) to be involved in developing an ever evolving brand, making it their own.