Being a michelau resident as well as a schwurbitzer resident, and being a michelau resident very close to the german basket city of lichtenfels – sabrina meixner does not think in narrow local boundaries. The 22-year-old is completing her training at the university of media design in ravensburg and at the michelau advertising agency jung 2. During her dual studies, she shuttles back and forth between an apartment in baden-wurttemberg and her parents' home in schwurbitz every three months. A study project that related specifically to her home country was a challenge she was happy to take on. The task: to develop a new image for the home town or community. Keyword corporate identity.
A visual identity, as companies discovered for themselves in the 1960s, is a topic that is also gaining in importance for cities. A uniform appearance, for example on the internet, on business cards or letterheads, is intended to set the party apart from others. A distinctive logo is a recognition asset that can be an advantage in attracting tourists or businesses.
But how can you communicate the uniqueness of a city in a logo?? For sa brina meixner, it was immediately clear that she would have to work her way up to a coherent picture of the history of the place. She took about three months to make the decision. The tradition that the craft of weaving has in the village was at the heart of it. "It made spab", she tells. Putting yourself in the shoes of a potential client and their concerns is important in any design process, he says. For her own hometown, she found it rather easier to develop this understanding. And when they looked at the existing "designs of michelau on the internet, on flyers or vouchers, she saw a definite need for improvement. Different fonts, different use of the armor, sometimes coarse, sometimes small, sometimes not at all. It's all kind of arbitrary, she thinks, and presents an interwoven "M" in return for michelau, which unites six bright colors, and the slogan "connecting people" to go with it.
Burgermeister signals open-mindedness
The student can imagine many other uses for this design besides the usual ones – from t-shirts and umbrellas to eye-catchers on service cars and advertising brochures for braiding courses. Sabrina meixner emphasizes that she believes it is just as important to remember one's own tradition as it is to keep up with the times. And that also includes the courage to modernize, as the community has already shown with the extension to the basket museum.
The schwurbitzer would like to present her ideas in detail at the town hall and has already made contact with them. Mayor helmut fischer (CSU) signals open-mindedness: "we will certainly consider how we could use this logo." He is happy to see young people who are thinking about their community. Such ideas are important for the future. "We must be able to appeal to young people so that they are proud of their hometown and stay connected to it."
At any rate, sabrina meixner has already been able to inspire someone at the university with her work: her lecturer. She thinks that with the image developed by the young woman, michelau can position itself between tradition and the future. With the "courageous redesign it was possible to attract attention and at the same time promote the unique german basket museum. When she heard that the upper franconian community is known as the cradle of fine basket weaving, she also showed personal interest, as the student describes, with the spontaneous statement: "we have to go there sometime!"