Pflanze, Sprüher, Kaffeetasse und eine Flasche Sprudel auf einer Fensterbank vor dem offenen Fenster

Studio

Grabowski Böll is design studio in Leipzig and Bremen, founded and led by Ali Böll and Carlo Grabowski.

For sixteen years we have been designing packaging, wayfinding systems and brand identities — for companies, organisations and institutions that want their design to express a clear stance.

Our work rarely begins with design. More often it begins with a question. Or a misunderstanding. With a diffuse desire for change that does not yet have a name.

What we do first is create clarity. Clarity about what defines a brand. What it stands for — and what it does not. What language suits it. And what form it needs.

What you can expect from us is not the convenient solution. But a considered one.

Strategy

Good design follows good strategy. By that we don't mean a forty-slide presentation, but a few clear sentences against which every later design decision can be measured.

We don't write those sentences alone, but with you: in workshops, in conversations and by asking the occasional uncomfortable question. We analyse audiences, competitors and brand perception — and still trust our intuition. Over the years we have built our own method from many sources, among them the work of Anne Miltenburg. We adapt it to every new task.

Design

Once the direction is clear, we start designing. Grounded in concept, attentive to form and exacting in craft.

A logo has to work as well on a business card as on a façade, a label has to hold its own on the shelf, and a wayfinding system has to guide people who have never been there before. And sometimes it helps to look up from the screen.

Testausdrucke für eine Wortmarke »Lobenbergs« auf einem Zettel an einer Holzfurnierwand

People

Carlo Grabowski lives in Leipzig, raises a growing number of plants and shares a favourite wine with Germany's pensioners: Riesling Kabinett from the Mosel.
He fiddles with the knobs of small music machines as tirelessly as with texts and designs. At the weekend he sits outside his dacha and looks out over the countryside.

Ali Böll lives in Bremen’s Steintor district, teaches design at the University of the Arts Bremen and has been playing punk rock for 35 years. He has a soft spot for technology, likes to trust his gut — and prefers eating at the Turkish grill around the corner.

Grabowski Böll is the two of us. We work for clients whose aims we share. And who we'd happily have a Riesling Kabinett with.

Network

For every project, we bring in the people it needs:
— copywriters
— coders
— photographers
— illustrators
— strategists
— etc

Strategy

Romas Stukenberg
Steffen Vogt

Code

Timm Albers
Ewald
Mario Helbing

Photography

Annika Nagel
Christian Rothe
Manolito Röhr
Caspar Sessler
Christina Stohn

Text

Marcel Linden

Illustration

Anna Schilling
Johannes Ellmer

P.S.

We work with privacy-compliant tools and cloud storage solutions in Switzerland.
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