Climate Labs — Good design inspires and helps prioritise the best decision.

Jonas Brandau was born in Stade in 1988 and started making short films just 10 years later. After studying camera in Berlin, he first began working as a freelance cameraman, won the German Young Filmmakers Award in 2011 and received a nomination for the German Camera Award 2012 at the age of only 23. But then he was drawn to the world of tech start-ups. In 2013, he founded his first company and started teaching himself interface design. Since then, Jonas Brandau has created a whole series of brands, websites and apps. His digital video magazine “Hyper” is named “Best of 2015 & 2016” by Apple. 2016 also sees the first Red Dot: Best of the Best. In 2019, he founded his second company Climate Labs and started designing for the climate protection app “Klima”. It is nominated for the Apple Design Award in 2021 and is now pre-installed on all iPhones in Apple retail stores worldwide as a best-in-class app design.

Climate Labs in an Interview with Red Dot

Red Dot: What does design mean to you?
Climate Labs: At the risk of sounding a bit overbearing, good design can steer people towards an action. If this action then does something good for society or the planet, we come full circle in a wonderful way.

To what extent do you think new technologies are changing design?T
New technologies always require an interface to make them usable for humans. But every interface has different requirements and demands new, creative solutions. So new technologies also provide new approaches and ideas, and in this way constantly develop design languages and solutions further.

How would you define good communication design?
Good communication design is in the background and foreground at the same time. Ideally, the information to be conveyed can be understood intuitively and easily, while at the same time the design must inspire in order to focus the viewer’s attention.

What makes your work unique?                                                                                                 My work is always influenced by my many years of work as a cameraman and filmmaker. That’s why I use a lot of moving images. Specifically, this means that all my apps rely heavily on highly aesthetic background videos. I believe that moving images offer people faster and more immersive access to information.

Please describe the concept of creativity against the background of your award-winning work.                                                                                                                                                     To me, creativity is the sparking bridging and merging of the most diverse feelings, experiences and stories. This is how new ideas can flourish and lead imaginatively and creatively to the desired innovation.