The archive · Brand & Identity · Strategic decision · 2020–2023
Dutch designers' body BNO turns itself into a brand made by its community
Studio de Ronners rebuilt the Association of Dutch Designers around the Dd platform and two annual publications whose theme and design change every year.
BNO (Association of Dutch Designers) · Studio de Ronners
What it had to solve
BNO, the Association of Dutch Designers, is the largest community of designers and design agencies in the Netherlands, yet too many young designers and professionals were unfamiliar with what it does. The rebrand had to make BNO, its practice and its community visible — and keep them visible after the launch.
How it works
BNO — the Association of Dutch Designers — is the largest community of designers and design agencies in the Netherlands, but a century of advocacy had left it little public identity: too many young designers and other professionals were unfamiliar with what it does.
Studio de Ronners was asked to change that. The rebrand created the 'Dutch designers' (Dd) platform to inspire, connect and celebrate Dutch design and designers, and folded the association's magazine into it — renaming the old Dude magazine and adding a yearbook.
The mechanism keeps the brand alive: Dd Magazine and Dd Yearbook publish each June and December, every issue organised around a topical theme, and the theme shapes both the content and the design. Members receive both publications, and they are also sold through the publisher nai010, Dutch bookstores and museums, carrying the brand from the association into the wider culture.
By handing the design of its own voice to the community, BNO became a brand for, with and made by Dutch designers. The Dd Magazine design won Studio de Ronners a D&AD Award and a Silver at the European Design Awards 2023.
Why it lands
- The community is the proof: a magazine and yearbook designed by members demonstrate Dutch design instead of merely claiming it.
- Re-theming and redesigning every year keeps the brand perpetually current, mirroring a profession that never stands still.
- Two annual artifacts give an intangible community something tangible to hold, circulate and be proud of.
- Each topical theme turns the association outward — celebrating designers' processes and news rather than institutional bureaucracy.
What it did
BNO became a brand for, and made by, Dutch designers, with the annuals reaching members, bookstores and museums across the Netherlands. The Dd Magazine design earned Studio de Ronners a D&AD Award and a Silver at the European Design Awards 2023.
What you can take
If a body's members are creators, make the brand a recurring commission: re-theme and re-design its flagship artifacts every year, so the organisation proves the craft it exists to promote.
Since then
The Dd platform and its annual publications became the association's public face, with the magazine and yearbook distributed to members and sold through nai010 and museum shops. Studio de Ronners' Dd Magazine design won a D&AD Award and a Silver at the European Design Awards 2023, and the rebrand remains an example of turning an industry body into a showcase of its own members' craft.
Sources
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card