Kandidatstvai - Branding, Web Design & Development
00. Intro
As much as we love working on commercial projects, at the heart of alles + jetzt lies the responsibility to impact communities with our work. We figured that our best bet to do that exponentially would be to invest in the future of upcoming generations. This project - kandidatstvai - aims to do just that.
As a team of young creatives, we have experienced the daunts of the educational system in our home country, Bulgaria, on numerous occasions. Information, if present, is difficult to find and shown in a way that prompts more questions than there were to begin with. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, except in this case. With younger generations adapting to digital culture ever so rapidly, ease of access and conciseness are paramount. Since institutional changes here come at an exhaustingly slow pace, we decided to take the matter into our own hands. We created a platform that unifies all information about education in one place - from how to apply to public kindergartens, through tips about acing your pre-high school exams, all the way to best practices about choosing and applying to universities/ work placements.
We humbly realize our position of entitlement - despite the hardships, our environment didn’t let us fail. Therefore we decided to plan a few campaigns that would allow us to monetize this project. We’re doubling on giving away, as all profits from the campaigns will go strictly towards providing facilities and a supportive environment for every kid, especially those in need.
For this project, we created a brand identity that revolves around a flexible logomark and a dynamic colour palette which signal the bright future ahead. We also developed an easy to work with website and a social media strategy that would spread the word about our venture far and wide, but most importantly, allow us to interact with the future generations in mediums where they feel most comfortable.
01.Logo
In primary school all students in Bulgaria are taught to recite the universal school anthem - an ode to the saints Cyril and Methodius by Stoyan Mihailovski. Thе piece was published in 1892, just a few years after Bulgaria had regained it’s freedom, as a wake up call for many by praising Bulgarian literacy as the beam of light that preserved the nation through almost 500 years of slavery.
We capitalized on this historical background and designed a dynamic logomark, which can find itself at home both in the hearts of the Y2K reminiscent students as well as in those of their more traditional parents and guide them into the future. Something like a modern-day Polaris.
02.Typography
The symbol is paired with an elegant wordmark that accentuates the original letterforms of the Bulgarian variation of the Cyrillic alphabet. The identity utilizes the Montserrat family in various weights and sizes because of it’s trustworthy geometric design and multi-purpose scalability across different mediums.
03. Colours
We chose the trustworthy combination of deep blue and white as the primary palette for the identity.
Based on age and academic stage we identified four main points of struggle in the public educational system. We split these journeys into different sections by color coding them distinctly.
These colors, paired along with the round shapes of the typeface and logo establish the perfect balance between playfulness at all times and seriousness when required. We believe that learning should be fun, but with the right amount of thoughtfulness.
04.Website
For its primary stage, kandidatstvai's resources need to be easily accessible to anyone at any point in time. We carefully designed a small-scale design system (with attention to the possibilities of future expansion), designed an easily distinguishable digital identity, and developed a fast website to house all content.
View the live version here - https://www.kandidatstvai.bg/ The website is just the first step of the development of the project and we're excited to have you onboard on our quest to improve education.
Thank you for coming this far!
Have a project in mind and want to make it look spectacular? Send us an email - hi@allesplusjetzt.com
Shed your light.
~ alles + jetzt