Bibliotheek Midden-Brabant, Bibliotheek Nieuwe Stijl: repositioning, two labels and testing ground by Schwung
A ‘new style’ was already there.
We gave it form and language.
Asked for an image campaign, read: ten posters. Delivered: the vocabulary and the two labels that made the transition visible, internally and externally.
Four encounters, one new style.
Not the posters, but the story beneath them.
"Make a series of posters, the library has a dusty image."
– The original brief
The Bibliotheek Midden-Brabant was in the middle of a transition: from lending factory to a workshop of knowledge and stories. To the outside world, little of that was visible. The image stayed dusty, membership was declining and the library's right to exist was under pressure. The question to us: an image campaign, a series of around ten posters.
We took a step back. A poster series eases the symptom, but it does not change the picture. So we did not pitch a campaign, but a repositioning: Bibliotheek Nieuwe Stijl, with its own vocabulary, two labels and a testing ground to show it in practice.
A few beer mats, and a bigger idea.
The first sketches, on beer mats. The beginning of Bibliotheek Nieuwe Stijl.
"Work it out on a few beer mats. Don't put too much time into it, it's only a pitch."
That was the brief for the pitch. And normally that would have been fine. But we did not want to pitch a poster series, we wanted to show a complete communications strategy, with two new labels that would touch the whole organisation.
A few beer mats are too small for that. So we did more. Not because we had to, but because we believed in the idea. That conviction won the pitch, and became the start of a partnership we are still proud of.
A stubborn prejudice.
Among members the library was helpful, familiar and versatile. Among non-members the image stayed dusty and old-fashioned: a place to borrow books, nothing more. That lending function feels less future-proof, so, the reasoning went, the library had little future. While the Bibliotheek Midden-Brabant was already busy with the library of the future: lectures, events, partnerships in schools, in care and at festivals. The outside world just didn't see it. Identity and image were not aligned, and that had to change.
From poster series to repositioning.
Strategy first, then the tools
The primary communication was not about books, but about ambition: positioning the transition to the library of the future. The emphasis shifts from offering knowledge sources to offering a platform where you can both find and share knowledge.
- Focus on the transition, not on the lending function
- From broadcasting to connecting
- From product to concept communication
Bibliotheek Nieuwe Stijl
By stating outright that there is a Bibliotheek Nieuwe Stijl, the transition became explicit. A name that sharpens the difference between old and new for members, non-members and staff alike, and that made room for a distinctive, recognisable graphic style.
- One overarching name for the campaign
- New, shared vocabulary for the organisation
- A visual language of its own: creative, open, diverse
de Kennismakerij & Place to bieb
We charged up the change on two fronts. Inside the branches with a shop-in-shop: de Kennismakerij. Beyond the walls with the link to society: Place to bieb. Two labels that make concrete what Nieuwe Stijl means in practice.
- de Kennismakerij: meeting, discovering, developing, relaxing
- Place to bieb: everywhere the library happens
- Flexible toolkits for every branch
Branding the Spoorzone
In the Spoorzone (Hal79), de Kennismakerij got a physical testing ground: the place where the organisation discovered what the library of the future is in practice. In effect a forerunner of the later LocHal. Facade and interior made it clear at a glance: you are walking into the Nieuwe Stijl.
- Testing ground in Tilburg's Spoorzone
- Facade and interior in the Nieuwe Stijl
- Driver of programming and support
Two names, one new style.
De Kennismakerij and Place to bieb were embraced in no time, internally and externally. Two recognisable labels that translated abstract notions like 'transition' and 'participation' into something you can go to, can feel and can take part in.
de Kennismakerij
A place where you can find knowledge and stories, but also where knowledge is made and shared. You are welcomed as a guest, the surroundings inspire and are always in motion. Physical and online.
Place to bieb…
All the places beyond the branches where the library happens: the reading table in the community centre, a partnership with a school, activities at a festival. The emphasis is on experiencing, doing and learning, together with partners.
Make a statement.
The graphic style had to stand out among the bookshelves: collages of clippings, doodles and colour, built around the four encounters. Four facade banners for de Kennismakerij, in the orange and turquoise of the Nieuwe Stijl.
They came too.
We didn't drop the requested posters, we lifted them up. Instead of stand-alone images they became carriers of de Kennismakerij: real faces, with an invitation to get acquainted. Meet teacher Chantal. Meet Jan Willem. Meet the Bibliotheek Nieuwe Stijl.
Online, the place where it all comes together.
On bibliotheeknieuwestijl.nl the Nieuwe Stijl activities took the spotlight, with the testing ground in the Spoorzone as its defining heart. A platform that communicated more from customer need than from sender, fed by a pool of volunteer reporters. In the hero you see both labels come together: de Kennismakerij and Place to bieb, in the space that would later become the LocHal.
From lending factory
to a workshop of knowledge and stories.
No longer just giving meaning to information, but discovering, meeting, developing and relaxing together. A library that sets you in motion, and moves you forward.
A campaign that landed.
More important than the figures: internally, support and a shared vocabulary emerged. Staff knew more sharply where the difference between old and new lay and adapted their programming. The labels Kennismakerij and Place to bieb were embraced in no time, and other library regions showed interest in the concept. Ten years on, still a partnership we are proud of.
Client, role, year.
Client
Bibliotheek Midden-Brabant
Role
Strategy, repositioning, concept, naming, visual style, two labels & platform
Year
2014–2016
Award
Best communications campaign in Brabant
Frequently asked questions about the Bibliotheek case
What did Schwung do for the Bibliotheek Midden-Brabant?
The library asked for an image campaign, read: a series of around ten posters, because membership was declining. Schwung took a step back and delivered not a poster series but a complete communications strategy: a repositioning under the banner Bibliotheek Nieuwe Stijl, with a new vocabulary, two labels (de Kennismakerij and Place to bieb), a distinctive graphic style, a platform and the branding of the testing ground in the Spoorzone.
What is Bibliotheek Nieuwe Stijl?
Bibliotheek Nieuwe Stijl is the overarching name with which the Bibliotheek Midden-Brabant made its transition visible: from lending factory to a workshop of knowledge and stories. By literally stating that there is a new style, it became clear to members, non-members and staff that something was changing. The change was charged up on two fronts: inside the branches with a shop-in-shop (de Kennismakerij) and beyond the walls with Place to bieb.
What are the two labels: de Kennismakerij and Place to bieb?
De Kennismakerij is the shop-in-shop concept inside the branches, a place where you can find and share knowledge and stories. It all revolves around meeting, discovering, developing and relaxing. Place to bieb stands for all the places beyond the branches where the library happens: the reading table in the community centre, a partnership with a school, activities at a festival. Together the two labels made concrete what Nieuwe Stijl means in practice.
What does the testing ground in the Spoorzone have to do with the LocHal?
De Kennismakerij in the Spoorzone (Hal79) was the physical testing ground for Bibliotheek Nieuwe Stijl: the place where the organisation discovered what the library of the future is in practice. As such it was effectively a forerunner of the LocHal, the later library icon in Tilburg's Spoorzone. We were developing the testing ground while the concept was still taking shape.
What did the campaign achieve?
The campaign was named the best communications campaign in Brabant (Communicatieprijs Brabant). Internally, support and a shared vocabulary emerged in no time: staff embraced the labels Kennismakerij and Place to bieb and adapted their programming. In six weeks the platform bibliotheeknieuwestijl.nl drew nearly 2,000 visitors with an average dwell time of well over three minutes, and other library regions showed interest in the concept.
How did the project begin exactly?
With a pitch. The brief was to work the idea out on a few beer mats, not to put too much time into it, after all it was only a pitch. But because we did not want to pitch a poster series but a complete communications strategy with new labels, more was needed. That conviction won the pitch and became the starting point of Bibliotheek Nieuwe Stijl.
Will the next case be yours?
Sometimes the question is a poster series, and the answer is a repositioning. We like to look beyond the medium, to the story beneath it.