The aesthetic platform of this image is the contrast between traditional and new means of design. The visual elements are the “F”, the colours r-g-b, as well as the Avenir family of fonts designed by Adrian Frutiger. Using printable paints the “F” is applied directly to the offset plate and printed on large sheets in pastels shades of red, green, and blue, one on top of the other. When trimmed to DIN sizes, this produces lithographs with wonderful pictorial compositions. The “F” appears in some form or other in all publications and documents and, as an airy, transparent landscape of colours and forms, creates the background for overprints in black and white. The F form also serves as raw material for visual essays. The complex corporate design program can be developed further by various users in the institution. Without the need for any elaborate form of graphic design monitoring new applications are produced constantly in various programs and systems

To complement its appealing tourism advertising this town was looking for an image for all its communal forms of communication. Visitors to Lech am Arlberg are struck by the contrast between the gentle contours of the elevated valley and the rugged, soaring and plummeting outlines of the powerful mountains. The “Trinité” family of fonts by Bram de Does reflects something of this atmosphere. The standard form of this typeface is slanted slightly in the direction of reading; the individual letters are shaped with a high formal quality. This results in a sovereign and calm type, easy legibility and gracefulness. The special aspect of this Antiqua is the way the family is expanded to include three different ascenders and descenders. The characteristics of the different fonts are shown in a matrix and allocated to the different areas. This typeface is used for the entire correspondence and communication– ranging from letters written by the mayor to minutes of meetings, the community newsletter or public signposting. The municipal coat-of-arms, which is of heraldic origin, is respectfully integrated as a further principal element of the town’s image.

The business “nu” produces both individual high-tech content-management systems as well as standardised software solutions for special users and branches. This “twin track” quality is taken up in the company’s verbal and visual communication and provides the basis for the design. With the name consisting of only two letters and a logo made from just a single form of letter – in one case standing on its feet, in the other on its head – a striking letter ornament is created: two colours, two letters, two directions. Overlaying these repeatedly produces new forms and colours. The “2” thematically addressed in the design also recalls the binary set of characters of the digital world

Cervantes&Co is a small bookshop that also sells Spanish wine and delicacies. The name is borrowed from the Spanish national poet, Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra. The emblem blends the letter “C” and the ligature &, which is derived from Latin word “et”, to form a circular ornament. The opulent culinary figure accompanies the bare, functional name in a series of humorous insertions – as a stamp on packages, as a symbol that seems to fall off the edge of a facade flag, as decoration for a postcard, et cetera.

gbd is a group of businesses in Dornbirn made up of gbd ZT, gbd Fassaden, gbd Mosbacher, and gbd Lab. The areas in which this group works include: structural design, project management, the preparation of expert assessments and specifications as well as technical supervision and consulting. Starting from the logo for the main business, gbd ZT, , variations with certain additions were produced for the partner businesses. Based on the square, new letters are constructed for “gbd”. Borrowing from the idea of the elevation, plan and sketch these are made up of open and closed squares and parts of squares and address various technical aspects such as anchoring, supporting, loading and hovering. These forms produce a dynamism and movement which, however, is restrained again by the static centre, a closed square.

The requirement and the strategic goal are to create a basis for the contemporary communication of the city of Bregenz. The first measure is based on organizing an exchange of ideas between the various users of city communication and working out a series of recommendations for coordinated and clearly structured communication work. Based on analyses and graphic design studies an overhaul and modernisation of the city’s existing image seems to be the best approach. Subtle modernization by redesigning an existing trade mark represents a greater design challenge than creating a new one. The changes are intended to give the logo a contemporary formal quality that equips it for the future, while at the same time relating to the old form. The economic background to this decision lies in the advantages of exploiting the existing logo’s familiarity and avoiding the expense of introducing an entirely new symbol. The changes are intended to give the logo a contemporary formal quality that equips it for the future, while at the same time relating to the old form. The economic background to this decision lies in the advantages of exploiting the existing logo’s familiarity and avoiding the expense of introducing an entirely new symbol. The characteristic mirrored word-image trade mark, originally created by Nolde Luger, is deliberately retained. The necessary contrast between light and dark is achieved by using two different typefaces: a modern and striking Grotesque and a delicate, playful Antiqua. This effectively develops the logo into a flexible logotype with the appropriate visual impact. The modernized logotype is part of the city’s newly created corporate design program, which is defined and designed in further stages. An entire series of variations on the new image is created for application in very different areas and is documented in a comprehensive corporate design manual. The concept provides design proposals for basic printed and advertising material for the various departments, facilities and institutions of the city of Bregenz.

An innovative high-performance material for timber building is produced layer by layer. Similarly, the verbal and visual communication used to launch it on the market is built up step by step. This laminated veneer lumber product made from beech introduces a new option in structural timber building – an area previously almost entirely dominated by softwoods. The design principle, used in a number of different applications, is based on enclosing and revealing the condensed material in order to develop the strikingly beautiful pattern of the veneer layers in graphic design terms. The result – alongside an exploration of all the possible variations in appearance – is a filigree key image that narrates in an illustrative way the path from peeling the trunk to the product’s linear structure. The robust packaging complements this approach: the weighty wood sample is kept in a kind of casket (for instance hidden in the woods or stacked to make a patchwork).

In 2004 Reinhard Gasser was invited to take part in the annual competition for the corporate design of the organiser of the Kiel Week, the world’s largest sailing event. By dispensing with the usual visual clichés Kiel was declared the protagonist for the communicative scenario. The “i” from Kiel becomes a keel (the German for which is Kiel, just like the name of the town) and, with a part of the word, dips below the water line. All the strength of a ship is gathered in what is called the “keelson” (German “Kielschwein”). In the end a different poster concept by Professor Klaus Hesse was used.

The Tannberg forms the axis between Bregenzerwald, Arlberg and Lechtal. The Walser tribunal which gave the regions its name and which, after the arrival of the Walser in the region, unified the three towns of Lech, Warth and Schröcken for centuries, used to convene there. Information about the special qualities and the shared history of this region was to be conveyed at specially selected points and routes for hikers and had to be suitable for exposed locations at a height of up to 2000 metres above sea level, where weather conditions can be extreme. Instead of a conventional signage system the concept is based on benches and »look-out areas« made from planed, untreated larch that carry CNC-milled lines of lettering – no artificial colours, materials or signs. The combination of plain wooden benches with interesting messages gives the individual elements a great real – and also symbolic – effectiveness. Surround by a stunningly beautiful landscape, the users learn worthwhile information and short histories of each specific location. In-depth information that augments the core messages is given on an interactive hiking map with dynamically programmed cartography.