Beck Sans
Typeface

It all began with a redesign of our own logo. As we explored the new corporate design and drew on our deep passion for typography, the team developed a desire to create our own exclusive house typeface.

To help with this, we reached out to type designer Guido Schneider, who had previously been responsible for the typefaces used in client projects. Through close collaboration between us and Guido Schneider, the new typeface “Beck Sans” was developed over the course of nearly a year.

The architecture and design language of the new typeface are based on the four “graphic” letters and the geometric, constructive structure of the new BECK logo. Individual elements, such as the C—which is extremely closed for a text typeface—and the square dot, were carried over. The other characters were freed from their rigid, square basic forms and redesigned to be typographically optimized. In addition to the underlying geometric theme, attributes such as bulky, technical, and angular were incorporated into the overall design process. The result is a striking sans-serif typeface whose characters stand out thanks to clear geometric shapes combined with subtle “edges and corners.” Various distinctive details round out the typeface’s appearance.

The eight well-balanced stroke weights—ranging from Thin to Black—and the italic variants create harmonious shades of gray, while also serving as the foundation for high-contrast, accentuated compositions.

In addition to the more graphically minimalist, bold-looking basic version, the typeface is supplemented by numerous alternative characters (glyphs). These make it possible to adapt the typeface to the content, field of application, or medium without completely altering its character. For example, OpenType features can be used to activate more conventional forms of the letters A, G, J, V, Y, a, l, ß, u, y, &, 0, 1, 3, 6, and 9, which create a more balanced typeface and optimize it for longer blocks of running text.

The result is a flexible design tool that uniquely addresses the various roles a typeface can play.

The project ultimately received two major awards: the Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication Design 2022 and the German Design Award Special 2024.