A Visual Identity for the national German Skateboarding Team

What’s cool and German?

The German lifestyle is not know for its Californian coolness, you may think.
Mostly it is the obvious – The Umlauts or Metal-Umlauts* as they’re called in pop-culture terminology.

Motörhead, Stüssy, Beastie Boys and many more … why not us, the Germäns :-)

Defining a new letter was like occupying a public space. Turning a bench or stairs into a skateboarding obstacle.

It also gave the team the creative freedom to have their own letter.

Metal Umlauts at Wikipedia

The athletes had the chance to get their hands on their own interpretation of the logo

“The logo resambles a skatepark and it’s about you how to skate it, what style and speed. The park remains it’s shape, but athletes have their signature way of ripping it”

On the website we incorporated versions of the logo wherever possible to establish its playfulness

Traditionally a counter-culture, skateboarding is not known for showing off national symbols. Hence the secondary color palette from an inverted German flag.

Söhne Extra Breit seemed like the ideal typeface that reflects the Zeitgeist of german sports associations and current trends of brutalism

The initial team deck design is inspired by former female Bauhaus artist Alma Siedloff-Buscher’s wooden block toy set, to reflect the endless variations that often hide in simple elements.