Overview
- Hesse’s government, which approved the rebrand Monday in Frankfurt, kept the lion crest and added an all‑caps “HESSEN” wordmark, a custom “Hessen Gellix” typeface and tweaked colors, with €290,000 cited for development.
- The FDP filed a request for an April 22 budget committee report that questions total costs, the direct award of the work and possible links between the State Chancellery and the agency network involved.
- Designers and accessibility advocates challenged the state’s claims, saying the detailed lion is hard to read at small sizes and the wordmark shows drawing flaws that reduce legibility.
- The government defended a digital‑first rollout and the plan to use up old stationery and gear to limit waste, and it cast the relaunch as support for the region’s creative economy during Frankfurt’s World Design Capital year.
- Coverage diverged, with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung stressing hidden implementation costs and awkward optics from merchandising, while Frankfurter Rundschau centered opposition demands over priorities and procurement.