Berlin, Germany – In a groundbreaking convergence of sound art and dynamic visual communication, the Spatial festival, an immersive sonic event held at Berlin’s historic Funkhaus, has unveiled a revolutionary brand identity system designed by Barcelona-based studio SMLXL in collaboration with motion designer Gerard Mallandrich. This innovative approach moves beyond traditional static branding, establishing a reactive, three-dimensional visual language that mirrors the festival’s unique premise of active sonic exploration. The system, debuted for Spatial’s highly anticipated second edition in 2025, sets a new benchmark for experiential branding, demonstrating how motion can serve as the foundational element rather than a mere embellishment.
The Spatial Festival: A Deep Dive into Immersive Sound
Spatial is not merely a concert series but an architectural journey through sound. Hosted within the imposing edifice of Funkhaus, Berlin’s iconic former broadcasting station, the festival invites participants to transcend passive listening. Instead, attendees are encouraged to wander through five distinct rooms, each meticulously curated to generate unique sonic environments. Sounds emerge not from conventional speakers but from the very fabric of the building—walls, floors, columns, and ceilings—creating a multi-directional, enveloping soundscape. This design philosophy transforms the act of listening into an active exploration, where one’s movement and perspective directly influence their auditory experience.
Funkhaus itself lends profound historical and architectural weight to the festival. Constructed in the 1950s as the headquarters for East German radio, its brutalist and modernist design, featuring sprawling recording studios, concert halls, and administrative complexes, provides an unparalleled canvas for acoustic experimentation. Its vast, often cavernous spaces and unique sonic properties make it an ideal venue for an event like Spatial, where the environment itself is a critical component of the artistic presentation. The festival’s inaugural edition garnered critical acclaim for its innovative use of space and sound, attracting a discerning audience keen on boundary-pushing artistic experiences. For its return in 2025, the organizers recognized the imperative for a brand identity that could not only reflect but actively embody this avant-garde concept, steering clear of visual complexity that might detract from the core immersive experience.
The Design Mandate: Beyond Static Visuals
The challenge presented to the design teams was significant: create a brand identity that could resonate with the festival’s experimental nature without becoming overly abstract or inaccessible. The identity needed to convey movement, depth, and the feeling of entering a distinct spatial dimension, yet remain clear and functional across diverse applications, from digital platforms to physical signage within Funkhaus. Traditional branding methodologies, which typically develop static logos and guidelines first, followed by optional animated iterations, were deemed insufficient for a festival fundamentally about movement and dynamic interaction. The organizers sought a visual system that felt genuinely "alive"—reactive, three-dimensional, and intrinsically tied to the attendee’s journey through the sonic environments.
SMLXL & Mallandrich: A Collaborative Genesis
To tackle this ambitious brief, Spatial enlisted the expertise of Barcelona-based design studio SMLXL, renowned for its innovative graphic design solutions, and their long-term collaborator, Gerard Mallandrich of the specialized motion design practice Mallandrich. This partnership proved crucial, as it brought together complementary skills in strategic design thinking and advanced motion graphics, enabling a truly integrated approach from the project’s inception. SMLXL, led by creative director Anna Berbiela, is known for pushing the boundaries of visual communication, while Mallandrich brings a deep understanding of how movement and time can sculpt perception. Their combined experience positioned them uniquely to deliver an identity that transcended conventional expectations.
Motion-First Philosophy: Reshaping Brand Identity
What truly distinguishes the Spatial brand identity is its pioneering "motion-first" methodology. This approach fundamentally redefines the relationship between static and dynamic visual elements in branding. "From the outset, we envisioned pushing for an identity that would be experiential and strongly driven by movement," states Anna Berbiela, partner and creative director at SMLXL. "Rather than adding motion as a final layer to an already defined system, we wanted motion thinking to be part of the foundation."
This paradigm shift meant that animation and dynamism were not afterthought enhancements but the very core around which all other visual elements—typography, color, imagery—were developed. By prioritizing motion, the design team could imbue the brand with an inherent sense of dynamism that directly mirrored the festival’s ethos. The brand identity became a dynamic voice rather than a static container, capable of embodying the physical act of moving between rooms, between sounds, and between imagined spaces—precisely what the festival itself is designed to facilitate. A sterile or stationary visual system, in contrast, would have felt incongruous and disconnected from an event where the audience is always in transit and their perception constantly shifting. This strategic choice ensured that the brand identity itself became an extension of the immersive experience, rather than merely a descriptor of it.
The Creative Process: From Reality to Digital Liminality
The development of this unique visual language began with an exploration of Funkhaus’s physical architecture. The team initially conducted 3D scans of the venue’s various rooms, aiming to directly incorporate its distinctive textures and forms. However, these real-world scans proved "too busy," introducing an unnecessary level of detail that might distract from the brand’s core message of abstract spatiality. This led to a crucial pivot: instead of replicating reality, the team decided to construct a virtual space of their own. This digitally rendered environment was not intended to be a photorealistic representation but a liminal, abstract realm that could be manipulated to convey movement and depth.
Drawing inspiration from cinematic techniques, particularly the exaggerated vanishing points and dynamic perspective shifts seen in classic science fiction like the opening crawls of Star Wars, SMLXL and Mallandrich crafted a visual world designed to be traversed. "The visuals would become a space in themselves," Anna Berbiela explains, "something you move through rather than just look at." This virtual space allowed for the creation of an infinite, ever-changing perspective that could be rendered across various digital and physical touchpoints, consistently conveying the festival’s theme of exploration and transformation. The decision to build a bespoke virtual environment provided unparalleled control over the brand’s aesthetic, ensuring that every visual element contributed to the overarching narrative of dynamic spatiality.
Typographic Nuance and Experiential Integration
Within this kinetic framework, typography was deliberately handled with restraint. The chosen typeface, Neue Haas Grotesk, was applied monochromatically—clean, legible, and timeless. This minimalist typographic approach ensured that the motion and spatial distortion remained the primary carriers of the brand’s character. Instead of competing with the dynamic visuals, the type served as a stable anchor, providing clarity while allowing the surrounding motion to define its context and impact.
Every element—color, imagery, and type—was rigorously tested within the virtual environment to observe how it would warp, shift, and interact under various conditions. This iterative process allowed the designers to understand the inherent flexibility and responsiveness of their system. The typographic system could then be meticulously framed for static applications, such as print posters or program guides, while still subtly reflecting the festival’s inherent rhythm and spatial distortion. The resulting static applications carry a residual sense of movement, hinting at the larger, dynamic system from which they originate.
The brand identity was designed to be inherently responsive, adapting seamlessly to the diverse contexts it inhabited. On Spatial’s interactive website, the visuals invited user engagement, with elements reacting to cursor movements or scrolls, creating a personalized micro-experience. At the Funkhaus venue itself, large-scale projections transformed the physical architecture, extending the virtual space into the real world. Attendees and artists alike experienced the brand identity not merely as a promotional layer but as an active presence, an intrinsic participant in the event. As Anna Berbiela succinctly put it, the core challenge was not simply adding dimension, "but creating a sense that you could actually enter and move through the content." This interactive and integrated approach deepened the immersion, making the brand identity an integral part of the festival’s sensory tapestry.
Broader Implications for Experiential Branding
The SMLXL and Mallandrich brand identity for Spatial stands as a compelling case study for the future of experiential branding. It sidesteps the conventional category of "animated branding," which often applies motion as an afterthought, and instead positions itself closer to spatial design—a visual world built to be inhabited and interacted with. This "motion-first" philosophy carries significant implications for various industries, particularly those centered around immersive experiences, events, and digital products.
For the entertainment sector, this approach suggests a pathway to creating more cohesive and engaging brand experiences that extend beyond the event itself. Festivals, exhibitions, and interactive installations could adopt similar methodologies to create identities that evolve and react, fostering a deeper connection with their audience. In the realm of digital product design, the principles of dynamic, spatial branding could lead to more intuitive and engaging user interfaces, where the brand’s visual language guides interaction and enhances usability.
Furthermore, this project highlights the increasing importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in modern design. The synergy between graphic design and motion design, when integrated from the outset, unlocks creative possibilities that isolated disciplines cannot achieve. It underscores a shift in how designers conceptualize brand identity, moving from static emblems to fluid, responsive systems that are capable of reflecting the complexity and dynamism of contemporary experiences. The investment in such a sophisticated branding system, while potentially higher than traditional methods, promises a significant return in brand recognition, audience engagement, and perceived innovation.
Future Outlook and Industry Impact
The Spatial festival’s brand identity is more than just a successful design project; it is a declaration of intent for the future of visual communication. It champions a design philosophy where the brand itself becomes an experience, a navigable space rather than a mere identifier. As technology continues to advance, enabling more sophisticated real-time rendering and interactive platforms, the principles pioneered by SMLXL and Mallandrich for Spatial are likely to become increasingly prevalent. This project demonstrates that a brand identity can be as dynamic and immersive as the experience it represents, forging a deeper, more visceral connection with its audience. It challenges designers and clients alike to rethink what a brand can be, pushing the boundaries from static representation to dynamic, interactive participation. The Spatial identity will undoubtedly serve as an influential reference point for those seeking to create truly immersive and unforgettable brand experiences in the years to come.