Rethinking a Company
Otl Aicher and FSB
Photo: Timm Rautert
It would be impossible to overstate Otl Aicher’s importance for FSB. Not only did he conceive our iconic logo and timelessly fresh visual identity, under his severe gaze we put in place a well-founded corporate culture upon which we are still able to build today. He could be a very awkward mentor and sparring partner at times, to the point where he urged us to radically rethink what it was we did and, in so doing, paved the way ahead for FSB.
Design sketch by Otl Aicher
Wittgenstein door lever
Couldn’t be much simpler: two lines joined at rectangles and gently rounded off. The FSB logo is surely one of the best indicators of just how brilliant a designer Otl Aicher was. He distilled the shape of his stylised handle from a door lever the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein designed for his sister’s house in Vienna in the 1920s. Aicher’s logo, which plays such a crucial part in the visual identity he came up with us for us, has been defining our corporate presence ever since.