Studio ÆSK – Branding for an Architecture and Design Studio

Studio ÆSK is a multidisciplinary studio for architecture and objects from the Augsburg area founded in 2022. The studio tries to understand the relationship between people and building or object bodies and to give them a suitable form through aesthetics, meaningfulness and construction ("Æ", "S", "K"). This three-part guiding principle, when put together, forms the name of the studio. More obvious, however, is the cross-reference to the English word "ask". This describes the drive to understand the context in which spaces and objects stand in relation to the people using them or the environment.

Since the studio sees itself as having a strong Scandinavian or Norwegian influence, the word mark also refers to the design of the Fúthark - the runic alphabet of the Norse. The first two letters "A" and "E" in particular, with their angular character, refer to the look of carved runes and to the letter "Æ", which is found in many Scandinavian alphabets today and was originally created from a ligature of both letters. Just as light is refracted when it falls through a prism, the letter "E" also refracts out of the "A" and thus refers to the analytical approach and the urge to understand connections. In addition to straight lines and repeating diagonals ("A", "K"), the wavy letter "S" is at the centre of the typeface and thus forms a soft, organic counterpoint to the reduced, constructed clarity of the remaining letters. Like a human being in a constructed space, this creates a visual field of tension, which at the same time gives the word mark its independent character. This core idea is also reflected in the combination of typeface families (Stellage Italic Constructed, Moderat Regular). As the lowest common denominator of various materials such as weathered wood, metal and stone, a warm grey is used as the central colour tone of the visual identity.