Photo: C. Fischer

Artist and project manager Christoph Teixeira speaks in an interview about the Software AG Foundation's new logo, his artistic strategy, and the intended effect of the new colors and forms.

Blue is a favorite color worldwide. More than half of all international flags are at least partially blue; blue also appears in the logo designs not only of many organizations in industry and technology, but also of many foundations. Why did the Software AG Foundation decide to abandon this color scheme in its new logo?
Blue is a favorite color among companies because it communicates professionalism and seriousness, but also a certain degree of coolness. It exudes structure and formal strength. That makes blue especially attractive for technical companies, not the best fit for the Software AG Foundation. We are working in the ream of spirituality and vitality. The person is the heart of our work as a foundation. The warm colors of the new logo are much more closely in tune with this, and with our work, than the cooler and more professional blue. Yellow, for example, expresses a great deal of activity and motion, but also inspires imagination and fantasy, and thus also the creativity of our applicants.

What is the intended effect of the logo on the viewer?
The new logo is in a certain sense the face of the foundation. It should embody what SAGST stands for, in a tangible and experiential form. It should open up an entry way to the world of ideas, to the spiritual, and thus lead to inner work; the form and colors inspire reflection, and the viewer begins to understand what an idea is, what meaning really is. At the same time, the logo has no specific message that it must communicate; nor does it have a meaning that could be explained in a sentence. Rather, it draws the viewer into an unknown realm; it is an artistic offering, an invitation to seeing, that allows a whole new way of looking and that, in contrast to many other logos, does not appeal to the discursive side of the viewer.

At first glance, the new logo appears to have little similarity to the older design of the foundation ...
... in fact, however, a number of elements of the old logo were preserved in the new: the bisection of the logo into picture and word, as well as the form - although this was made more dynamic in the new logo. This searching, striving motion is something that is expressive of our work as a foundation. In our work, we seldom encounter finished, set answers to urgent societal issues; rather, we work together with our project partners to find new paths. To give form to this living spirit of the foundation was the greatest challenge in designing the logo.