Smartphone with black case lying on turquoise table, screen displaying webpage with elephant image and text.

ARD / planet schule

Education, to the point

Intro

Challenge

Approach

Impact

planet schule is an educational service from Germany’s public broadcaster ARD, offering high-quality learning and teaching materials for students, teachers and anyone interested in learning. The multimedia platform brings together films, explainer videos, educational games, animations and apps, as well as interactive content and worksheets covering a broad range of topics and school subjects.

The challenge was to translate the brand’s educational ambition into a modern, digital identity that resonates with its audiences. At the same time, we asked: How can one visual identity bring to life an educational platform that spans every subject and every school level – from primary school to upper secondary education?

The new identity is designed to engage teachers and young learners alike, opening up the platform’s wide range of educational content. At its heart is a newly developed brand icon that comes to life in motion and captures the brand promise in one simple idea: There are no wrong questions. The right answers are waiting for you on planet schule.

At a time when an overwhelming amount of information makes reliable knowledge harder to find, trusted educational content matters more than ever. planet schule’s new brand identity provides clarity while combining credible learning with a modern, playful design. It makes knowledge more accessible and encourages young people not just to consume information, but to explore it with curiosity. Because learning shouldn’t just feel important – it should be engaging, too.

Design Guidelines

Brand Strategy

Brand Identity Systems

Motion Design

Brand Architecture

Young man sitting at a table looking intently at a laptop covered with programming and technology stickers.

Asking questions

Questions lead to answers. And every answer helps us understand our world a little better. Through a diverse language of colour and form, these questions become the central design element of the new identity.

Orange background with a yellow semicircle and the text 'Können Autos auch mit Zitronensaft fahren?'

Blue background with red geometric shapes and white text 'Wie wiegt man einen Elefanten ohne Waage?'

Text on purple and dark red background reading 'Wie schwer ist die Luft in einem Klassenzimmer?'

1/3

One planet, endless topics

On planet schule’s digital learning platform, students and teachers alike can find a wide range of educational content. At the heart of the new brand identity is a newly developed brand icon which, in animated form, sums up the brand promise: There are no wrong questions. You’ll find the right answers on planet schule.

Blue background pattern with white text reading 'Von ? zu ! hilft dir planet schule'.

Close-up of the top left corner of a smartphone screen showing three app icons against a red background.

Open laptop displaying a webpage with a photo of a yellow flower against a yellow background with red geometric shapes.

Learning in motion

To make the wide range of learning content even more distinctive in the future, all design elements were conceived for use in motion. A modular design toolkit allows them to be recombined and used in new ways again and again.

Person seen from behind wearing a black puffer jacket and blue jeans carrying a red fabric tote bag with blue geometric shapes and white text 'planetschule'.

Laptop displaying the YouTube channel "Planet Schule" against a purple and dark red background.

“The core idea of understanding learning as an exciting journey from question marks to exclamation marks was translated perfectly into a modern, highly flexible and versatile design. In doing so, it strengthens planet schule as an educational brand and reinforces ARD’s public value.”
Nicolas Duscha Head of Editorial, planet schule, Südwestrundfunk