I’m honoured to be a speaker at a global type conference ATypI 2025 Copenhagen. My talk is about: ”The Refresh of the News Brand Icon Aftonbladet. Aftonbladet is Sweden and the Nordic countries largest breaking news brand.
The speech is; “The Refresh of the News Brand Icon Aftonbladet”, how to create news brands trust, the key findings in the brand audit research and the method behind the work; with a variable logo font.
Heritage and history are key to Aftonbladet. The Iconic logo is the most important visual brand asset and it was a rare project to direct a refresh of such a known and iconic public brand.
My aim was to give the logo strength, more punch and become immediate for breaking news on SoMe, videos, podcast, broadcast, on site and beyond.
The logo study showed a remarkable consistent typographic visual identity yet also that the visual brand and logo simply wasn’t powerful enough for the digital age.
I asked Christian Schwartz at Commercial Type, if he could redraw the logo and logo typeface.
Commercial Type has built its reputation as one of the most respected type foundries in the world and on the project he says;
”This is an evolution of the logo, looking back to its history to understand how to bring it forward. The craft has been improved, along with the function”
For experiment Schwartz and Greg Gazdowicz, suggested to build a variable font which became an important part of our method and together we explored the typographic axes and design space.
Aftonbladet’s new logo is developed and designed with a holistic approach for a coherent logo for all products, across all touch points, sub brands and communication. An equally important media brand of Aftonbladet is Sportbladet, Swedens largest sport destination.
Aftonbladet brand refresh launched in 2025.
The logo and logo typeface is directed by Anna Thurfjell Studio and designed together with Christian Schwartz and Greg Gazdowicz, Commercial Type.
Read the full story on: Brand refresh for Swedens largest news media Aftonbladet
The ATypI conference annual theme is ; Fluidity—Beyond the Static Form in Copenhagen, 22-26th of April.