3 ms·

Let me guess, massive amounts of taxpayers money was paid to them to create this font, that they do not even open source and allow no modifications and such. A

Let me guess, massive amounts of taxpayers money was paid to them to create this font, that they do not even open source and allow no modifications and such. Also, the font looks pretty generic and nothing special or unique. I do not see much value here, there are probably 100 fonts that look pretty similar to this.

wizerdrobe 3y ago
While I understand the need or desire of a capital city like Berlin to have “good design” and advertise, i.e. “I <3 NY” a font seems deep in the rabbit hole. Is there much prior example of other metropolis making this deep of a design choice on small details like a custom font?
- Mashimo 3y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39522893 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39522893
_cenw 3y ago
Jung von Matt is definitely one of the most prestigious advertising agencies in the country, it not the most.
- rad_gruchalski 3y ago
  Never heard of them.
  - bowsamic 3y ago
    If you had heard of them they wouldn't be doing their job right
  - hnbad 3y ago
    Most consumers haven't. Most advertising agencies have. Some campaigns German consumers would be aware of: - Saturn, "Geiz ist geil" - Edeka, "Supergeil" - Sparkasse, "08/15 Bank" (very beige board meetings) - Bild, "Bild dir deine Meinung" Basically if you've seen any catchy ad campaign on German television in the past thirty years it was probably made by them. You don't have to like their work or think that it's good but they've been extremely successful and so have been many of their campaigns.
    - rad_gruchalski 3y ago
      I live in Germany and never heard of any of those. Maybe I’m not the target demographic. The only catchy campaign I’m aware of is the traffic light coalition campaign but that was written by life. Good acting, though.
      - hnbad 3y ago
        The Saturn one (Geiz ist geil!) was unavoidable in the 2000s. The Edeka one (Supergeil) was a viral social media hit in the mid-2010s. I can understand missing out on the second one if you weren't paying attention to German social media but if you were old enough in the 2000s to know what an ad is I have no idea how you managed to avoid that. And even then you'd have at least heard of the phrase because the ads put it back into popular discourse with right-wing politicians chastising consumers for their "Geiz ist geil" mentality. The Sparkasse ads were also from the mid-2010s. They were basically very beige board meetings of the "08/15 Bank" (08/15 meaning "standard issue" or "run of the mill" in German though the exact origin is disputed - likely somehow relating to the MG 08/15 machine gun of WW1). You couldn't really sit through an ad break without seeing one.
        rad_gruchalski 3y ago
        > likely somehow relating to the MG 08/15 machine gun of WW1 Wow, this is really creative. Seems similar in vein to "Berlin to Warsaw in one tank" by Jeremy Clarkson on VW Scirocco.
        hnbad 3y ago
        Not sure if that compares if you mean the use in the ad. "08/15" (often "null acht fuffzehn" rather than "fünfzehn") is a widely used colloquialism in the same way as "standard issue" in English and most people have no idea of its origins. Wikipedia suggests it is very likely tied to that specific machine gun but the exact reasons seem to be lost to time.
- Zetobal 3y ago
  You are right but there is a difference between a good advertising agency (JvM) and a good design agency... Looking at the advertising award shows in 2022 and 2021 this also seems to be a "gold" idea so Berlin got probably a big discount if they paid anything at all. All for the awards... Don't look what Jung von Matt Tech does or you gonna cry :D
  - hnbad 3y ago
    I think JvM Tech is more of a "vertical integration" than replicating in tech what JvM does in advertising. I'm also not convinced most of their customers get a significant ROI from picking them over more "down to earth" agencies. I think in many cases it's just wanting to have some of the prestige of JvM without actually being a good fit for them.

wizerdrobe 3y ago

While I understand the need or desire of a capital city like Berlin to have “good design” and advertise, i.e. “I <3 NY” a font seems deep in the rabbit hole. Is there much prior example of other metropolis making this deep of a design choice on small details like a custom font?

Mashimo 3y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39522893 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39522893

_cenw 3y ago

Jung von Matt is definitely one of the most prestigious advertising agencies in the country, it not the most.

rad_gruchalski 3y ago
Never heard of them.
- bowsamic 3y ago
  If you had heard of them they wouldn't be doing their job right
- hnbad 3y ago
  Most consumers haven't. Most advertising agencies have. Some campaigns German consumers would be aware of: - Saturn, "Geiz ist geil" - Edeka, "Supergeil" - Sparkasse, "08/15 Bank" (very beige board meetings) - Bild, "Bild dir deine Meinung" Basically if you've seen any catchy ad campaign on German television in the past thirty years it was probably made by them. You don't have to like their work or think that it's good but they've been extremely successful and so have been many of their campaigns.
  - rad_gruchalski 3y ago
    I live in Germany and never heard of any of those. Maybe I’m not the target demographic. The only catchy campaign I’m aware of is the traffic light coalition campaign but that was written by life. Good acting, though.
    - hnbad 3y ago
      The Saturn one (Geiz ist geil!) was unavoidable in the 2000s. The Edeka one (Supergeil) was a viral social media hit in the mid-2010s. I can understand missing out on the second one if you weren't paying attention to German social media but if you were old enough in the 2000s to know what an ad is I have no idea how you managed to avoid that. And even then you'd have at least heard of the phrase because the ads put it back into popular discourse with right-wing politicians chastising consumers for their "Geiz ist geil" mentality. The Sparkasse ads were also from the mid-2010s. They were basically very beige board meetings of the "08/15 Bank" (08/15 meaning "standard issue" or "run of the mill" in German though the exact origin is disputed - likely somehow relating to the MG 08/15 machine gun of WW1). You couldn't really sit through an ad break without seeing one.
      - rad_gruchalski 3y ago
        > likely somehow relating to the MG 08/15 machine gun of WW1 Wow, this is really creative. Seems similar in vein to "Berlin to Warsaw in one tank" by Jeremy Clarkson on VW Scirocco.
        hnbad 3y ago
        Not sure if that compares if you mean the use in the ad. "08/15" (often "null acht fuffzehn" rather than "fünfzehn") is a widely used colloquialism in the same way as "standard issue" in English and most people have no idea of its origins. Wikipedia suggests it is very likely tied to that specific machine gun but the exact reasons seem to be lost to time.
Zetobal 3y ago
You are right but there is a difference between a good advertising agency (JvM) and a good design agency... Looking at the advertising award shows in 2022 and 2021 this also seems to be a "gold" idea so Berlin got probably a big discount if they paid anything at all. All for the awards... Don't look what Jung von Matt Tech does or you gonna cry :D
- hnbad 3y ago
  I think JvM Tech is more of a "vertical integration" than replicating in tech what JvM does in advertising. I'm also not convinced most of their customers get a significant ROI from picking them over more "down to earth" agencies. I think in many cases it's just wanting to have some of the prestige of JvM without actually being a good fit for them.