Freunde von Freunden is a Berlin-based publishing brand known for its unfiltered portraits of creatives around the world. Operating at the intersection of design, culture, and lifestyle, the brand has built a reputation for long-form editorial that combines visual sophistication with cultural credibility.

For over a decade, FvF has shaped conversations through deep, cinematic storytelling. But as media habits shifted to mobile-first, social-native formats, the brand faced a clear challenge: evolve—without losing the editorial depth and trust that made it a creative authority in the first place.

Audiences today are fluent in scrollable, snackable, socially distributed content, and traditional online publishing struggles to keep up. But the demand for meaningful storytelling hasn’t gone away. Our insight: even in a scroll-driven culture, depth can still thrive if delivered in a way that feels native to how people consume media today.

The challenge? Help FvF shift from an “online magazine” to a “social-first cultural publisher,” preserving editorial soul while unlocking agility, relevance, and reach.

To relaunch Freunde von Freunden, HY.AM STUDIOS developed a social-first brand evolution—combining positioning, identity, and platform design to reconnect the media brand with a new generation of creatives.

Freunde von Freunden Brand Relaunch – HY.AM STUDIOS

Cultural Comeback

We defined a sharp, future-facing positioning rooted in cultural insight, audience-first thinking, and social fluency. It was designed to resonate with today’s creative class. The tone of voice, content pillars, and brand identity were realigned for mobile-native behavior and cross-channel storytelling.

With the name shift from Friends of Friends to Freunde von Freunden, we introduced a modern, clean logo paired with a distinctive pictorial mark built for digital performance. The new visual language took cues from bold editorial design while remaining scalable and clear across formats, from printed spreads to Instagram feeds.

We redesigned the FvF website as a premium editorial magazine: immersive, intuitive, and responsive across all devices. The platform created a seamless user experience, with visually rich storytelling and built-in flexibility for launching new formats, from interviews to partner features to product drops.

The brand refresh extended beyond digital. We created on-brand merch, signage for the Freunde von Freunden studio space, and a bold wildposting campaign across Berlin to announce the relaunch. This brought the new identity into physical space and reconnected the brand with its creative community on the ground.

Within months, FvF relaunched its brand and platform—reconnecting with Berlin’s creative scene through curated events, bold editorial features, and a renewed digital presence. The relaunch sparked fresh momentum with readers, collaborators, and partners, laying the groundwork for new products, partnerships, and storytelling formats.

Freunde von Freunden (FvF)

"Cultural Comeback"

Related Work