Studio Vie refresh an Austrian music brand still trapped in the 1990s

If you’re in the niche business of selling specialist audio components, e-guitars, recording equipment and all the other paraphernalia associated with music production in general you probably don’t have to work too hard at promoting yourself. People in music need all of these things in abundance otherwise they can’t make music. Fact. But if in 2013 your website still looks like one of the very first iterations of online content from the 1990s heyday of MSN Messenger and dial-up, and your business cards have been churned out on the office Xerox, you probably need to have a little bit of a think about your brand identity.

Austrian audio equipment retailers Klangfarbe are exceptionally guilty of keeping that dated online aesthetic intact, but they have conceded to a spot of revitalisation for their printed collateral courtesy of Studio Vie. They’ve maintained their unique cursive logo (which I’m actually pretty fond of) but refreshed the brand guidelines with bold colours, punchy type and actual adherence to a grid system. GREAT start; now they just need to have a crack at updating that website.