About us
Design Consultancy. Systems Expertise. Two Locations, Two Markets.
We are Andrea and Freddie Ott — founders of BFG, Büro für Gestaltung. We work from Hamburg and the southwest of France: two locations that reflect how we think. Northern European precision, southern European contextual awareness. Both markets understood from the inside.
We communicate professionally in German and English — genuinely bilingual, not translated after the fact.
Background
In 1988, Freddie Ott was among the first designers in Germany to work with Desktop Publishing on the Apple Macintosh — at TEAM BBDO, on the Apple account. What is standard practice today was then a revolution in production and thinking: understand the system before you use it. That attitude has never changed.
More than 35 years followed: brand identities, publications and information systems for companies including Degussa, Oerlikon, Wacker Chemie, Mercedes and Lufthansa — organisations that understand communication as a management tool. Corporate publishing for VW and Montblanc, premium editorial work for Geo and Brigitte, mid-sized companies and founders navigating growth and repositioning.
For over 25 years, Freddie Ott was involved in the development and design of major market research studies — including GEO Imagery, Brigitte Kommunikationsanalyse and Spiegel Outfit. This long-term exposure to mechanisms such as relevant set, brand awareness, brand affinity and usage behaviour continues to shape how we evaluate communication: not by aesthetic preference, but by measurable effect.
Andrea Ott contributed intercultural structural work, editorial leadership, and qualifications in psychological counselling and coaching.
Freddie Ott received a Merit Award from the Art Directors Club New York for the design of the Greenpeace Chronicle "25 Years Greenpeace Germany". In 2002, the professional journal novum — World of Graphic Design devoted a multi-page feature to his infographic work in their infographics special issue.
As Entrepreneurs — Not Just Service Providers
What fundamentally distinguishes us from conventional design studios and agencies: we have not only communicated for businesses — we have communicated as business owners ourselves, with our own capital at risk and full accountability.
We built the magazine Perlen Poesie from the ground up: identified a market gap, developed the concept, built the brand. Name, editorial concept, photography, layout, production — entirely in-house. The result was an internationally positioned specialist magazine that attracted advertisers from Japan, the USA, Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany, published in two languages.
From the magazine grew Beaders Best, an international trade fair bringing together dealers, manufacturers, artists and workshop participants from across Europe and beyond — alongside the International Bead Award, an annual international competition. Editorial trips took us to Germany, Austria, Italy, France, England and the United States. The publishing programme was completed by two specialist books on jewellery making, both bilingual.
Those who have built a product from nothing, opened a market, won international partners and developed a community around a brand — understand entrepreneurial communication from the inside. That is the depth of advisory competence we bring.
Systems Expertise
We run our own digital infrastructure — for over ten years, currently with more than 40 productive services: mail server, CMS architecture, document management, security solutions, monitoring. The BFG website was developed entirely in-house and is operated by us.
This is not an end in itself. It demonstrates how we work: with genuine understanding of processes, dependencies and system logic — not just their surface. Organisations with complex communication requirements notice the difference.
Our Approach
We are not an agency that executes briefs. And not a consultancy that delivers concepts and hands them over.
We take responsibility for the relationship between decision, communication and impact — from strategic clarification through to implemented design. Calm, precise, without sales rhetoric.
Team
Freddie Ott
Concept, design, implementation. Brand identities, publications, information graphics, illustration, photography. Leadership experience, training, presentation. Over 40 years of MacOS expertise and a deep understanding of production processes and technical systems.
Andrea Ott
Intercultural communication, editorial leadership, text development and editorial review for logic and coherence. Qualifications in psychological counselling, coaching and adult education. Organisation of international projects and trade fairs with high administrative precision.