Corporate identity

The AHK introduced a new, university-wide corporate identity in the 2007-2008 academic year. The corporate identity was developed by the Amsterdam design firm Thonik. The corporate identity offers a balance between joint and separate profiling. The point of departure is that the rich culture and tradition of the different constituent parts of the AHK are preserved. The diverse identities of the different study programmes together determine the face of the AHK. The AHK is always visible, but does not come to the fore.

Lettering & Logo

The main elements of the house style are lettering and a logo in a different colour for each component of the AHK. The logo, moving spheres, symbolises a moving target: our striving for excellence is a permanent challenge but never a secure possession. The curved shapes and sturdy serif of the Serifa font combines well with the spherical shapes and the horizontal shifting of the logo. The two combined have a structuring quality and work like a bullet in a list. In that sense it speaks a formal language appropriate to an important institute in the capital. In addition, the logo is robust in its simplicity and is in tune with the visual world that the students experience.

All the components of the AHK coexist and are equal: each one has the logo and lettering in its own colour, but also makes use of all the colours from which the whole is composed. The AHK as a whole, to which the research fellowship, for instance, belongs, also has a colour of its own. In combination with one of the academies, the AHK always adopts the colour of that academy, which therefore predominates.

Illustrative style

Besides this formal and robust style, Thonik has also developed an inspirational illustrative style that arises from the components of the logo. Communications are characterised by an abstract, imaginative and eye-catching outside and a transparent, clearly structured inside, thereby achieving a twin goal of communication: communications that catch the eye and match the special courses of the AHK, and at the same time lucidly provide clear information for the various purposes. Depending on the target group, fixed graphic elements are used that are not applied just once but for a longer period. This is to achieve a coherent and consistent visual idiom to promote visibility within the different target groups. This illustrative style is used to a greater or lesser extent depending on the aim for posters, invitations, brochures, annual reports, the website, etc.

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