Strauss: Writing a Piano and the Huangpu River into a Single Letter S

One letter, two identities

In 2020, Xinming Design rebranded Strauss, a heritage piano brand from Shanghai, with a new logo and a core visual identity system. The new logo is a squared S made of three forms: the upper-right and lower-left forms are the outlines of grand pianos, and the S-shaped curve running between them is the Huangpu River, with the two "pianos" on either side like the river's two banks. The two identities, piano and Shanghai, are folded into the brand's initial. The colours are Solemn Blue and Elegant Red, one matched to Shanghai at night, the other to the seats of a concert hall. At the same time, Xinming Design also created the brand for the company's Shanghai (上海) piano line. The identity is still in use, including on the Strauss website.

A history of 125 years needs a way in

Strauss traces its history to late-19th-century Shanghai. According to The Paper, in 1893 Cheng Dingguo opened the Yongxing piano shop at 819 North Sichuan Road, repairing pianos and building copies; in 1895 he founded the Strauss brand. In 1956, Yongxing merged with other small piano makers into the Shanghai Musical Instrument Factory. In 2010, Strauss pianos were designated a China Time-honored Brand by the Ministry of Commerce.

By 2020, Strauss was 125 years old. The trouble with heritage brands is rarely a shortage of story; it is that the story is long. History can be told at length, yet it is hard to compress into a symbol people recognise at a glance.

Strauss has two identities at once: it is a piano brand and a Shanghai brand. The new logo had to say both in one simple figure, and work on today's instruments, printed materials, website and outdoor advertising.

First, find the S in the pictures

The proposal did not open with the logo. It laid out five pictures first:

· History: a black-and-white photograph of an old factory;

· Huangpu River: the bend of the river seen from above Lujiazui;

· Craft: piano strings and tuning pins;

· Classic: a hand writing on a music score with a pencil;

· Piano: a black-and-white shot of someone playing.

In each picture, a dashed line traces an S-shaped curve: the turn of the river, the run of the strings, the path of the pencil, the movement of a hand across the keys.

The point of this sequence: the S is not just an initial lifted mechanically from the name. It is a line that already runs through Strauss's history, city, craft and music. The logo simply found it.

One S, three forms

The proposal explains the mark in three steps: piano, local culture, "S" STRAUSS PIANO.

· The two sides: grand pianos. The upper-right and lower-left of the S are two forms with one straight edge and one rounded edge, matching the outline of a grand piano seen from above. They say directly what the brand makes.

· The middle: the Huangpu River. The S-shaped curve joining the two ends stands for the Huangpu as it winds through Shanghai.

· The whole: two banks. The two "pianos" sit on either side of the curve, like the two banks of the river. It can be read as the Bund's history on one side and Pudong's present on the other, matching Strauss's path from the 19th century to today.

Geometrically, it is restrained. The construction drawing sets the whole mark in an 11.2a by 10a frame; the three forms run parallel at a single -20° angle, and every rounded corner and curve is cut from a defined circle. The square outline lets it sit firmly on a piano lid, in foil on paper, or shrunk into a website's navigation bar.

Strauss no longer needs words to say "we are a Shanghai piano brand". The logo has already said it.

The wordmark: wide, flat, steady

The English "STRAUSS" is set in an extended geometric sans-serif, with letters stretched horizontally and strokes of even weight, echoing the square outline of the S. The Chinese 施特劳斯 was redrawn on a grid, with straight strokes and corners rounded in the same way as the mark. The bilingual lockup is fixed on the grid at 24.6a by 9a.

On the instrument, the wordmark appears in gold above the keys; on paper, in gold foil or navy print. A brand more than a century old looks young in today's products and media without losing its weight.

Solemn Blue, Elegant Red

The brand colours are Solemn Blue (PANTONE 286 C, #012069) and Elegant Red (PANTONE 7636 C, #9F1E2C). The proposal pairs each colour with a picture: Solemn Blue with Lujiazui at night, standing for the city; Elegant Red with the red seats of a concert hall, standing for music and performance. On posters, brochures and the website, a gradient joins the two, the city at one end and the stage at the other; some posters add an enlarged treble clef inside the gradient.

Deliverables and extensions

Strauss brand

· New logo design and rationale; logo construction

· Chinese and English wordmarks and lockup rules

· Brand colours (Solemn Blue, Elegant Red) and gradient rules

· Core visual identity system

Shanghai (上海) pianos

· Brand design (completed at the same time)

The instrument, foil, poster, lightbox, letterhead, brochure, website and bus shelter images on this page are application mock-ups.

Looking back six years on

Three points are worth taking from this project:

1. Upgrading a heritage brand means compressing its identity into a symbol, not piling history into the logo. Strauss's new logo is a single letter, yet it says both "piano" and "Shanghai".

2. The best symbol is found inside the brand's own world. Because the proposal first found the same S curve in history, the river, the strings and the score, the logo persuades without explanation.

3. The simpler the form, the more precise it must be. A single angle, defined curves and a square frame let a mark of only three forms hold up on a piano lid, on paper and on screen.

For a brand of 125 years, history needs to be told, but recognition must be instant. This logo achieves the second, and gives more than a century of story a clear way in.

How to verify

· Client: Shanghai Strauss Piano Co., Ltd.; website www.sh-strauss.com (logo on the loading page)

· Brand history and China Time-honored Brand designation: reports by The Paper (澎湃新闻); the Ministry of Commerce list of China Time-honored Brands

· This case page: www.xinming.sg/portfolio/3039.html

Further reading

· Pearl River Piano Group: from badge to P/R monogram, rebuilding the identity of a 60-year-old manufacturer (www.xinming.sg/portfolio/3014.html)

· Ritmüller: making a 1795 crest readable today (www.xinming.sg/portfolio/3035.html)

· WAYCOMM Piano: a crown built from piano keys (www.xinming.sg/portfolio/3128.html)

FAQ

Who designed the current Strauss piano logo?

The Strauss piano logo was designed by Xinming Design as an entirely new mark in the 2020 rebrand, and it is still in use.

What does the Strauss logo mean?

The logo is a squared S made of three forms: the upper-right and lower-left forms are grand piano outlines, standing for the product; the S-shaped curve between them is the Huangpu River, with the two "pianos" as its banks, standing for Shanghai. One letter carries both identities, piano and Shanghai.

What kind of brand is Strauss?

Strauss (施特劳斯) is a Shanghai piano brand founded in 1895. Its predecessor, the Yongxing piano shop, opened on North Sichuan Road in 1893, and in 2010 Strauss was designated a China Time-honored Brand by the Ministry of Commerce.

What are Strauss's brand colours?

Solemn Blue (PANTONE 286 C, #012069) and Elegant Red (PANTONE 7636 C, #9F1E2C), joined by a gradient.

Is the identity still in use?

Yes. It has been in use since 2020, and the logo still appears on the Strauss website.

Which companies can learn from this case?

Heritage brands with long histories that need to compress them into a modern mark, and city or manufacturing brands with both a product identity and a sense of place that they want to express in one logo.

Xinming Design is a brand systems design firm. Its work centres on systematic judgment, turning brand strategy into structures that can run and be inherited. www.xinming.sg