With a new design and the slogan “freedom starts in the mind” the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung synergizes its values such as pluralism of opinion, prudence in handling as well as the power of facts.

The challenge was to create a holistic acoustic brand identity, in order to transport these values through sound across increasingly important digital channels.

The translation of core values into a sound concept found its perfect match with the ‘Neue Musik’ movement. Intellectual stimulation, unusual perspectives and a pluralistic spirit hold true for both.

Running chronologically parallel to the founding of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung was the second wave of ‘Neue Musik,’ which emerged after the Second World War and with the end of Nazi censorship.

The so-called avant-garde broke away from the usual compositional and hearing patterns: a musical-cultural movement as a counter-project to uniformity and time-honoured conventions.

The data-driven alignment of the musical works of the Neue Musik avant-garde with the brand values enables the concept to be narrowed down precisely.

Based on this, music producers and sound designers created a unique modular soundscape.

The Sound ID constructs the core of this soundscape as a base composition in which the distinctive characteristics of ‘Neue Musik’ can be identified:

Polyrhythms, dissonances, contrasting melodies and genre combinations.

All further elements could then be subsequently extracted from the Sound ID. This includes the sound logo, modular soundtracks – which were also used to sound the demo film, as well as a sound set with notification sounds, intros/outros, app sounds and alert tones.

Corporate sound is now a part of the brand portal and can be employed in all auditory touch points.

The combination of cultural awareness, creativity and data have led to the construction of a unique acoustic identity for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung brand.