Recap CXI 2026 in Bielefeld
A Look Behind the Scenes of Contemporary Brand Building
On June 12, 2026, the CXI – Conference on Corporate Identity took place at the Rudolf-Oetker-Halle in Bielefeld. Together with a group of students from Mainz University of Applied Sciences, we had the opportunity to attend and experience one of the most distinctive conference formats in the field of branding and design.
What sets CXI apart is its unique stage concept: clients and agencies appear together, presenting their projects in a joint dialogue. Rather than polished case studies from a single perspective, the talks open up the process itself — revealing negotiations, decisions, uncertainties, and the collaborative thinking behind corporate identity and design systems.
This year’s program once again featured a wide range of international brands and studios. Among the highlights were Lloyds Bank and Wolff Olins, fraenk and Make Studio, Zalando and Kurppa Hosk, Lufthansa and MetaDesign, as well as Katholino Kitas and Eiga Design. Each of these cases offered a different perspective on how complex brand identities are developed and maintained, and how much trust and alignment is required between client and design partner.
A particularly contrasting set of contributions came from the cultural sector. The Volkstheater Wien together with Karl Anders, as well as the KW Institute for Contemporary Art with Correspondence, demonstrated how cultural institutions often operate under different conditions — allowing for more experimental, bold, and sometimes more radical visual and conceptual approaches.
Between sessions, the foyer functioned as an active space of exchange and exploration. Visitors moved through displays of paper, print, and material innovations, with exhibitors presenting a wide range of samples, applications, and production techniques. It became a space to browse, compare, and physically engage with current developments in print and material culture.
Once again, CXI highlighted how much dialog, negotiation, and mutual trust is required to build coherent and lasting brand identities. The conference remains one of the most relevant platforms for corporate identity and branding discourse in the German-speaking design landscape!
