re:publica 20

Berlin’s re:publica is the largest digital society conference in Europe. For the 2020 edition, the theme of the conference was focused on the ecological urgency and how to find new bearable ways of living in the future: whether it is as individuals or as a society. Therefore, the motto of this edition was “ASAP”. Quoting the words of Greta Thunberg, re:publica wanted to address the urgency of changes in global politics and the necessity of a collective awakening to the world’s collapse.

First organized in the center of Berlin, the conference unfortunately had to go online due to the Covid-19 crisis: the posters designed by fertig design show this change of plans and play on the superimposition of two posters: one thought for the physical conference, only showing the word “ASAP”, and the other with contrasting colors to actualize the change of location. On the other hand, the studio also designed a website whose front page is composed of horizontal stripes playing on the alternation of two colors and moving in opposite directions: this principle gives a feeling of urgency while being very impactful.

The identity is set in Signal Compressed from Production Type. It is paired with Sharp Type’s Doyle and re:publica’s standard typeface, FF Super Grotesk (FontFont). The Signal family is an extension of the French road signage typeface Caractères that you find nowadays on all highways. Signal Compressed is a monstrous version of Signal, as if the optical impact of speed was caught and put into a font. The highway reflects on the motto of the conference: ASAP, as soon as possible, as fast as Signal can take you.