At the beginning of November, our study program visited the CoSa Museum in the Joanneumsviertel Graz to explore different approaches to gamification. I ended up finding the visit surprisingly relevant—not only for our current gamification project, but also for my own interests and future research directions.
Bewertet wird im folgenden die Masterarbeit „Der Einfluss von Charakteren im visuellen Storytelling auf das Social Media Engagement auf Instagram am Beispiel der Kosmetikbranche“ von Alexandra Golser aus dem Jahr 2024.
This semester felt like a giant work-in-progress. Not just in terms of design outcomes, but also in how I thought about my topic, my process, and what kind of designer I want to be. Nothing about it was linear, but maybe that was the point.
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I’ve been looking closely at how different racing series present themselves visually. One that stands out is F1 Academy, the junior all-female driver series. On paper, it’s part of the same universe. But visually, it tells a slightly different story.
As part of my research and experiments, I’ve been paying closer attention to how big motorsport brands, such as F1, position themselves visually. Its current branding, redesigned in 2017, is minimal, bold, and sleek. On the surface, it looks simple. But the more I study it, the more I notice how strategic that simplicity really is. The logo itself (the red double-stroke “F1”) is clean, forward-leaning, and symmetrical, with a built-in sense of motion. It’s basically a design metaphor for speed. There’s no ornament, no shading, no nostalgia. Just movement. This was a big shift from the previous logo, which was black and slanted and had an almost early-2000s video-game vibe. The new branding feels more timeless, more corporate, but also somehow more open. The type system (a custom font, “F1 Regular”) is geometric, modern, and extremely consistent. Paired with a controlled color palette (although mostly red, black, and white, sometimes yellow), it creates a very unified look across all platforms, from digital content to physical event signage. Every element seems engineered to convey speed, innovation, and control.
But what’s most interesting to me is how this branding reflects a cultural shift. DixonBaxi talked in their OFFF keynote about the new F1 visuals that they did about wanting to move away from an overly masculine, exclusive image and toward something more inclusive and futuristic. They didn’t try to make F1 look “friendly,” but they did try to make it look progressive, so more about data, tech, and possibility. Still, even though the branding is more refined now, it still speaks in a pretty masculine visual language. It’s clean and cold. Sharp and confident. There’s very little softness, irregularity, or emotional tone. And while that may align with the F1 brand’s values, it also leaves me wondering what’s still missing. What would it mean for F1 to visually communicate teamwork or emotion or community more clearly? Could it still feel fast, but also more human?
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