The part that does not change
Deutsche Bahn realigns its brand on 1 September 2026, and the announcement states explicitly what does not change.1 The DB logo, the mark Kurt Weidemann modernised and which was last altered in 2008, stays as it is.1, 2, 3 The colour palette stays too.1
The company introduces a new brand personality, a new graphic system and a heavier typographic setting, and rolls them out gradually across advertising, digital services and stations.1, 2
A personality rather than a claim
The new brand personality is called "Die Macher:innen", the makers, and the company defines it as the people who take responsibility and drive change.1 Jens-Oliver Voß, who heads communication and marketing, puts it directly in the announcement: the DB brand now shows what the company wants to stand for in future, which is taking responsibility and getting on with it.1
There is no accompanying tagline. Deutsche Bahn states on its own brand portal that it currently uses no fixed brand claim, citing the breadth of its product portfolio, so a personality is what the realignment puts in that place.4
The Schwelle as a design principle
The central graphic element is built from the Schwelle, the transverse beam that carries the rails and holds their spacing.1 Deutsche Bahn does not name the element in its announcement; it says the design takes its cue from the Schwellen of its own rail network.1 Designtagebuch labels the new element the Schwelle and sets it against the previous line device, which the company had called Puls.2
Martell Beck, the chief marketing officer, is quoted in the press release saying that the design takes its cue from the Schwellen and so from the DNA of the railway, and that the Schwellen develop dynamism and describe Deutsche Bahn's path forward.1
As a source of brand form the Schwelle sits below the vehicle and below the route, in the layer of the railway that exists so that the other two can work.
Heavier type in capitals
Typography is one of the visible changes. Headlines move to an extra-bold cut of the DB Neo family, set in capitals, in a near-black.2 The previous headline setting uses a lighter weight in a lighter dark grey.2
Erik Spiekermann created the DB Type corporate typeface for the company.3 The change here concerns the headline weight, the case and the headline colour rather than the family itself.2
The brand as a picture of a reorganisation
The realignment does not stand on its own. It accompanies a corporate restructuring under the strategy "DB 2035: Eine Bahn, die stolz macht", which reduces the executive board from eight departments to six and moves decisions closer to operations, with stated aims of reliability, quality and financial sustainability.5, 6, 7
Voß connects the two explicitly in the trade press, saying that the group's restructuring is under way and that it has to be visible.1, 8
What the brand portal already said
The realignment lands on a brand framework the company had already published. Under the heading Markenframework und Purpose, Deutsche Bahn gives its purpose as four short phrases: for the people, for the climate, for the economy, for Europe.4 Its four brand values are listed as menschlich, verlässlich, ökologisch and innovativ, glossed in turn as a business run by people for people, giving customers the confidence to sit back, climate and environmental protection lying in the company's DNA, and thinking beyond the here and now.4
Two of those overlap with the new work. The DNA formulation reappears in the press release as the justification for the Schwelle, and the first value, menschlich, is the register the new personality operates in.1, 4 The realignment is therefore an expression of an existing framework rather than a replacement for one.
Who made it and how it arrives
Strichpunkt wins the corporate design contract in the summer of 2023, three years before the work reaches the public.2 Unicorns&Lions is credited with the strategy and Strichpunkt Identity with the branding, and Strichpunkt leads the continued development and implementation.1
The rollout is phased. It begins with campaigns for the BahnCard and S-Bahn Berlin, is presented publicly for the first time at InnoTrans at the end of September, and moves through deutschebahn.com and the company's DB Planet intranet from there.2 On the day of the announcement the company's own marketing portal still documents Puls among its basic elements, which is a measure of how gradual the changeover is intended to be.9
The reception
One trade reaction is critical. Writing in Designtagebuch, Achim Schaffrinna argues that the new design favours technical dynamism over warmth, that setting headlines in capitals is less accessible than mixed case, and that the result may suit an industrial brand better than a passenger railway.2 He adds that operational improvement matters more to customer trust than a visual relaunch.2
The press release presents the realignment alongside the reorganisation and does not address that argument.1
Written with AI assistance, edited by a human. Find out more about our Use of AI.
1. Deutsche Bahn, "Deutsche Bahn richtet Marke neu aus und rückt Verantwortung in den Mittelpunkt", 1 September 2026, for the date of the realignment and for the announcement naming what stays, "Das DB-Logo und die prägende Farbwelt bleiben unverändert und damit die zentralen Konstanten der Marke", for the brand personality "Die Macher:innen" and its definition as the people who take responsibility and make change possible, for the gradual rollout from advertising through digital offers to stations, "von der werblichen Kommunikation über digitale Angebote bis hin zu Bahnhöfen", for the Schwellen of the rail network as the visual cue and for the DNA of the railway, both of which the release carries inside the words of Martell Beck, Chief Marketing Officer der Deutschen Bahn, "Das Design orientiert sich optisch an den Schwellen unseres Schienennetzes und damit an der DNA der Eisenbahn. Die Schwellen entwickeln Dynamik und beschreiben den Weg der Deutschen Bahn nach vorn.", for the words of Jens-Oliver Voß, Leiter Kommunikation und Marketing der Deutschen Bahn, "Der Konzernumbau der DB läuft. Und das muss man auch sehen. Die Marke DB zeigt seit heute, wofür das Unternehmen in Zukunft stehen will: Verantwortung übernehmen. Anpacken.", for the agency credits, Unicorns&Lions on strategy and Strichpunkt Identity on branding with Strichpunkt on implementation, and for the release setting the realignment beside the group restructuring without answering the design criticism. https://www.deutschebahn.com/de/presse/pressestart_zentrales_uebersicht/Deutsche-Bahn-richtet-Marke-neu-aus-und-ruckt-Verantwortung-in-den-Mittelpunkt-14017762
2. Designtagebuch, Achim Schaffrinna, "Deutsche Bahn richtet Marke neu aus", 1 September 2026, for the DB logo last having been altered in 2008 and being known in house as the DB-Keks, for the headline typography moving from DB Neo Screen Head Black in #282d37 to the heavier DB Neo Head ExtraBlack VF in the near black #090f1b set in capitals, for naming the new graphic element the Schwelle and the line device it replaces the Puls, for Strichpunkt winning the corporate design contract in the summer of 2023, for the rollout beginning with the BahnCard and S-Bahn Berlin campaigns, InnoTrans at the end of September as the first public presentation and deutschebahn.com and the DB Planet intranet as the first digital carriers, and for the author's own reservations, "es erzeugt, anders als der Puls, keine Vertrautheit, Freundlichkeit, Wärme", "Ausschließlich in Großbuchstaben gesetzte Texte sind zudem weniger zugänglich als Texte in Gemischtschreibweise", "Ich assoziiere das Progressivität vermittelnde, eher technische Design mit Werkzeug- und Baumaschinenherstellern wie Hilti, Makita oder Hitachi." and "Die Erwartung aufseiten von Kunden ist allerdings nicht, dass sich das visuelle Erscheinungsbild der Bahn verändert. Sie hoffen und erwarten Pünktlichkeit und Zuverlässigkeit." https://www.designtagebuch.de/deutsche-bahn-richtet-marke-neu-aus/
3. Wikipedia, "Deutsche Bahn", English edition, retrieved 17 September 2026, for Kurt Weidemann having modernised the mark and for Erik Spiekermann having designed the corporate typeface DB Type, "Kurt Weidemann modernised the logo and typographer Erik Spiekermann designed a new corporate font". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Bahn
4. Deutsche Bahn Marketingportal, "Markenstrategie", retrieved 17 September 2026, for the heading "Markenframework und Purpose" and the purpose in four phrases, "Für die Menschen. Für das Klima. Für die Wirtschaft. Für Europa.", for the four brand values menschlich, verlässlich, ökologisch and innovativ and their glosses, "Wir betreiben ein Geschäft von Menschen für Menschen.", "sich bei uns beruhigt zurücklehnen zu können", "Klima- und Umweltschutz liegen in unserer DNA" and "Wir denken weiter als nur an das Hier und Jetzt", and for the company's statement that it uses no fixed brand claim, "Einen Claim für die Marke DB setzen wir momentan übrigens nicht ein", with the breadth of the product portfolio given as the reason. https://marketingportal.extranet.deutschebahn.com/marketingportal/Marke-und-Design/Strategie/Markenstrategie
5. Deutsche Bahn, "Evelyn Palla stellt Aufsichtsrat neue DB-Strategie vor", 25 June 2026, together with the company's standing strategy page "Strategie DB 2035: Eine Bahn, die stolz macht.", for the name of the strategy the realignment accompanies, for the transformation being set out in three phases to 2035, and for the stated priorities, "Priorität haben dabei Verlässlichkeit, nachgewiesene betriebliche Qualität und wirtschaftliche Tragfähigkeit." Added during the footnote retrofit of 17 September 2026, because the strategy context previously rested on an off whitelist trade title alone. https://www.deutschebahn.com/de/presse/pressestart_zentrales_uebersicht/Evelyn-Palla-stellt-Aufsichtsrat-neue-DB-Strategie-vor--13964078 https://www.deutschebahn.com/de/konzern/Strategie-DB-2035-Eine-Bahn-die-stolz-macht--13978574
6. Deutsche Bahn, "DB-Chefin Palla sorgt für Neustart bei der Bahn", 11 December 2025, for the group board now carrying six departments, "Der Konzernvorstand hat nur noch sechs Vorstandsressorts", and for decisions being moved closer to operations, "bei der Entscheidungen nah am Geschäft und damit nah an Kundinnen und Kunden getroffen werden", alongside "eine konsequente Dezentralisierung von Aufgaben und mehr unternehmerisches Handeln". Added during the footnote retrofit of 17 September 2026. https://www.deutschebahn.com/de/presse/pressestart_zentrales_uebersicht/DB-Chefin-Palla-sorgt-fuer-Neustart-bei-der-Bahn-13697006
7. retail-news.de, "Deutsche Bahn stellt neue Markenwelt unter das Leitbild 'Die Macher'", 1 September 2026, off whitelist and used for corroboration only, for the figure of eight departments reduced to six, "der Vorstand wurde von acht auf sechs Ressorts reduziert", and for the restructuring being placed under the strategy DB 2035 with responsibilities decentralised and decisions moved closer to the operating units. https://retail-news.de/deutsche-bahn-neue-corporate-identity-die-macher/
8. Campaign Germany, Bärbel Egli-Unckrich, "Schwellen als Designprinzip: Deutsche Bahn präsentiert ihre neue Markenidentität", 1 September 2026, for the trade coverage carrying the Voß statement that the group restructuring is under way and has to be seen, and for his title, Leiter Kommunikation und Marketing der Deutschen Bahn. The article is largely behind a paywall and the quotation breaks off inside the accessible preview. https://campaigngermany.de/news/beitrag/4035-schwellen-als-designprinzip-deutsche-bahn-praesentiert-ihre-neue-markenidentitaet.html
9. Deutsche Bahn Marketingportal, "Marke und Design", retrieved 17 September 2026, for the list of Basiselemente, which still names Logo, Typografie, Farbe, Puls, Icons, Bildwelt, Motion Branding and Layout, and so still carries the Puls and not the Schwelle more than two weeks after the announcement. https://marketingportal.extranet.deutschebahn.com/marketingportal/Marke-und-Design
