Botanical Garden Liberec
The plant kingdom is a fascinating realm of diverse shapes and colours, constantly in motion—though this movement is often subtle and imperceptible. Yet, the essence of growth is embedded in the organic forms of plants, such as their natural tendency to twist and spiral. This very ‘trace of growth’ is distilled into a simplified graphic motif of rotation, which serves as the foundation for the visual identity of the Czech oldest urban botanical garden.
This unifying motif is not only reflected in the logo and the composition of printed materials but also extends to a set of supplementary pictograms. Thanks to a collaboration with the architectural studio Mjölk, the visual identity is seamlessly integrated into the concept of the garden’s wayfinding system and urban furniture, anticipating planned transformations within the site.
The colour scheme is primarily based on two shades of green, leaning towards turquoise. These hues have been carefully selected to harmonise with the painted surfaces of the garden’s pavilions. Beyond this core palette, the visual identity embraces a broad spectrum of accent colours—mirroring the natural world’s own diversity.
The primary typeface of the Botanical Garden Liberec’s visual identity is our own custom-designed geometric grotesque, Bezirk, which has not yet been released to the public. Its clean, well-balanced letterforms with classical proportions provide a striking contrast to the organic nature of the main brand mark. The typeface’s extensive character set and stylistic alternates allow for flexible typesetting—such as enabling the double-storey ‘a’ for improved legibility at smaller sizes. For headings, we have selected the contemporary serif Concrette (optical size M) by the Czech type foundry Displaay (Martin Vácha, 2024). Both typefaces share a slightly reduced ascender and descender length, along with a relatively high x-height, ensuring seamless pairing.
Given the garden’s strong educational mission, which falls under the Edulis Centre, we have also designed a range of educational materials and a mascot known as ‘Kaktusák Edulis’ (Edulis the Cactus). All materials intended for young audiences are developed with Edulis as their guide—engaging, educating, and entertaining children in an age-appropriate manner. The communication tone is light-hearted and accessible, fostering a positive relationship with the world of plants and the botanical garden as an inviting and inspiring space.
This identity was developed as the result of a design competition organised by Czechdesign.
