Hello, we are Laura and Yvonne, the woman-power behind the German design studio bungalow.

We got to know each other in 2012 during our communication design studies and since then never really parted ways. During our studies we worked together on many projects, for which we jointly received awards and held exhibitions, lectures and talks. The best known was Ladies Wine Design.

 

 

 

How a book on migration led us to travel to Las Vegas ...

In 2014, during the fourth semester of our graphic design studies, together with our fellow student and friend Lilli Scheuerlein we designed and wrote a book about escape and asylum. Fluchtatlas (engl. Escape Atlas) won several awards, traveled around Europe to be shown at exhibitions and book fairs, and later got published by Büchergilde Gutenberg in an edition of 2500 copies. In 2015, the German Design Award and the renowned Art-Directors-Club nominated and later awarded us with the Grand Prix for the Best Young Talents. As best young talent the German ADC and LIA invited us to go to Las Vegas to attend the LIA Creative LIAisons program, which we didn‘t expect at all and made everything even crazier. At this time, the three of us were spread across the world. Laura studied photography in Istanbul, Lilli travelled through Canada and the US, while Yvonne was back at home in Germany. We each traveled and met in Las Vegas at LIA in autumn 2015 to listen to speeches of people – almost legends – like Pum Lefebure, Amir Kassaei and John Mescall, which were very inspiring and motivational for us.

 

Starting our own small business, inspired by the big

In the end, there might be many reasons why we built our own design office exactly one year later, but in a way we‘re sure we were inspired by powerful women like Pum. We still think and talk about her in very specific moments, for example imagining how she would manage a certain situation. All in all we are sure, that winning the award, attending Creative LIAisons and listening to the speeches of our role models, gave us the push we needed and proof to ourselves to be more confident in starting our own design studio.

 

Starting with nothing.

We started with nothing except our old MacBooks. Contrary to our original intention – to leave our dreamy Bavarian small town – we decided to stay to use our existing network and to take advantage of the chance that the city of Würzburg had given us by providing places in a co-working space at low cost. Actually, Germany is not a supportive country for young entrepreneurs as one might think. We didn‘t get any support by the government, since we are not a classical start-up with one innovative idea – but many innovative ideas for specific projects.

 

Fortunately, our first job had already come before we even finished setting up our desks, a film about a children‘s home. A very special project to us that we will never forget, not only because it was our first project, but because it was a very emotional topic that we got to communicate.

 

The view from the bungalow is at ground level

The name bungalow says it all: the idea of working on one level without any hierarchy. Six former fellow students and friends; in addition to us - Alexander Elsner, Markus Günther, Niklas Zimmermann and Tim Sonntag co-founded bungalow. We are still living this ideology.

 

Learning by doing and: not doing!

Bungalow’s mindset was always a let’s-just-do-it kind of thing. But it’s only the way it is, because we always knew what we also did not want to do.

 

This was the main intention for the six of us for starting our own studio: we can decide whom we would like to work for and who not. We think design should improve our world instead of making it worse. Thus, we don‘t want to work for any brand that could cause serious harm to anyone, neither to people nor nature.

 

From small Würzburg to big Berlin

In recent years it became clear, that we are particularly good at branding and corporate design, as well as, social media content strategies and since we are print lovers: print in general. In the past four years, we worked for Fortuna Düsseldorf, Dr. Smile and Fashion labels like Drykorn and Odeeh. Currently we are working for Melitta Group, Kneipp and some local clients from the cultural and culinary sector – such as wineries, restaurants, museums and galleries.

 

  

In the beginning of 2020, we took the big step and opened a second office in Berlin, which is lead by Laura and Tim. We have hired a project manager, employ interns and work with freelancers.

Since we are a big team, our work process is agile and multidisciplinary. But we also love to collaborate and share ideas – so if you are reading this, don‘t hesitate to contact us.

And one last thing:

 

We need more leading woman in the design scene! Let‘s connect :)

       

 

Contact:

hallow@bungalow-kreativbuero.com

web: www.bungalow-kreativbuero.com (sorry, new website in the making)

instagram: bungalow_kreativbuero