Studio Spass is fun by name, fun by nature

Studio Spass is a Rotterdam-based agency working across various design mediums, always injecting an entertaining sense of personality, reflected in the studio’s name – which means “fun” in German. The studio created the visual identity for Spring, a ten day festival for experimental dance and performing arts earlier this year in Utrecht. Founding designer Jaron Korvinus discusses the studio’s design process with It’s Nice That, producing an original identity that literally “morphs, bends and stretches the imagery” to reflect the experimental choreography of the festival.

“We used a micro typeface with distinctive large ink bleeds in a very big and bold way," says Jaron, “in this context this gives the typeface an almost ‘body-like’ feeling.” The bulging letterforms of Gemeli Micro by Production type evokes overflowing skin and adds an element of tactility while giving way to the interactive motion. “Our aim for this project was not to portray the festival and its highlights, but to capture the feeling of surprise in the festival. How could we bring this to life in the festival identity?”

The designers recreate the diversity of the festival through a variety of interactive posters. The moving images are framed by an orange background and although “the colour orange is not [the studio’s] favourite colour”, the colour marks an integral part of the festival’s identity that Studio Spass adhere to. Despite this design challenge to “embrace the colour orange”, the designers still wanted the colour to feel “alive and present in all communication” for the visual identity to make a statement. This is how orange became the base colour for the campaign which in turn, led to the choice of monochromatic visuals to contrast against the orange brightness.

With “the potential role for graphic designers growing larger,” than the design of identities, Jaron and his team have experienced a shift in more three-dimensional work. Working increasingly in installation and spatial design, the studio has extended its practice to showcase an exploration of “objects, typography, space and interaction with people.” Their creative process begins with the research through interviewing clients “to get as much input as possible.” Jaron adds, “every different context of a project brings in something unique that we could potentially incorporate in the design.” The studio then challenge each other’s ideas, eventually narrowing it down to a single concept that is pitched to the client, underlining the studio’s ethos that “presentations only work if we are fully convinced by the concept."