About 18 months ago, I launched The History Buff podcast. This was because I wanted a channel to be able to speak about history from all over the world, not just Germany and Europe, which is my job as a Berlin tour guide! I’ve loved the experience with The History Buff, and I hope you have too, but it’s time for bigger and better things.
As well as the podcast and the tours, I also do social media content. Now along with this blog, I wanted to bring everything under one umbrella. I thought about keeping the name The History Buff as it is a snappy and approachable name (which also describes me very well!). However, I wanted to show a certain maturity and growth (as well as professionalism) and the Ministry of History (MoH) is something that really stood out to me. I toyed with other names too, such as History Mystery and What the History?! However, these didn’t pop as much as MoH, and also didn’t sound as professional or as all-encompassing as the name Ministry of History could be.
First of all I needed a new logo and branding. I knew this time I wanted it to look sleek and modern, whilst also containing historical elements. For this, I turned to a brand designer, who I worked with to come up with the new logo. I hope you like it!
I decided to really put myself into the logo. I included elements of Berlin (referencing my obvious ties to the city) with the Brandenburg Gate and also with a laurel because it’s… history-ish. For the main new colour I went for a deep blue colour (blue being my favourite colour), with other blues in the general ministry colour scheme such as a lighter blue, two shades of silver, white and black.
Then I needed a website that would be able to bring all these elements together to make it easy for people to access. I started out with Squarespace, but I definitely do not have the patience for that! I found myself getting too caught up by the smallest of details, to the point where I spent about an hour trying out different fonts to a header! So I left it to some professionals to do it. If you want my advice, always get someone else to build your website if you can. The money spent on it is 100% worth it!
Then I needed someone to make me some music for the podcast. For The History Buff, I have been using As History Unfolds by Christofer Moe Ditlevson, which I have to say is exactly the sound I want. However, I wanted to have my own music for my own brand. So I have handed off the song to a music producer and he is going to use it as inspiration for a new track which you will hear at the beginning and end of MoH podcast episodes and sometimes on Youtube videos and social media. I hope you like it!
Rebranding has taken a lot of time (and money!) over the past month or two, but I have to say it has definitely been worth it. I feel very confident in the Ministry and I feel like it really reflects my passion for history. For the moment, the Ministry will be producing the podcast, social media content and YouTube videos and I will be leading tours for it (and of course writing this blog!).
I will be the “Minister of History, but I also have regular contributors to the podcast and social media content, and they will be known as “Deputy Ministers.”
What I would love the Ministry to evolve into is a place for historical discussion and debate, where I can publish anyone’s historical research and help give voices to other history buffs and nerds like me who want a channel for their passion. I would also love to start employing more guides and then expand the Ministry’s operations to other cities and places to give tours. I myself dream of being able to split my time between London and Berlin and give tours in both!
That’s the goal.
I’ve taken the first step.
I hope you’ll join me on the journey!
Artie,
Minister of History