Designing Symbols

Designing Symbols. The Logos Of The Spanish Autonomous Communities

(1977-1991)

The Author Javier Gimeno-Martínez is coordinator and lecturer Design Cultures at the VU University Amsterdam.  Gimeno-Martínes has MA-degree in Industrial Design and in In Art History from Universities in Valencia (Spain). He got his PhD in 2006 from the KULeuven with the dissertation “The Role of the Creative Industries in the Construction of Regional European Identities (1975-2002): Design and Fashion in Belgium and Spain.” His research interests encompass design and fashion as related with consumption, gender and national identity.

The Article has been published in online 20^th of August in 2006 and it is part of “Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies” book. The article goes through how 17 new autonomous governments in Spain (devolution process of 1979-84), created their own identity logos and symbols with designers. In the text the author examines the logos of the Spanish Autonomous Communities as symbolic capital produced by their governments and designed for the Spanish voters. 

The Author starts by explaining the differences between coats-of arms-and logos.  The first part of the text the author studies how logos evolve as time passes and what factors and constraints affect the relevant. Gimeno-Martínes goes and explains political effects of decentralization to different autonomous communities, for exmaple they all have the same coals, but they didn´t receive the same power. According to Gimeno-Martínes text “Graphic design became a vehicle to shape the institutions with a modern, European touch”.

In the second part of the article the author analysis matter of the regional logos. Gimeno-Martínes skilfully tells about the effect of modernization the logos using different Autonomous Communities as an example. Like, to Andalusian government turned out to be a problem the composition of a human figure and lions in coat-of-arms. Anyway, after several ideas they came to the outcome, which the author Gimeno-Martínes described as a “absolutely geometric symbol, an extreme synthesis of the coat-of-arms”.  It was approved by consumers and managed to avoid rejection. 

The text goes through well how big influence of desings have to get the cosumers attention. The same applyies to every day affairs. Like how fashion designer have to develop clothes and bring new ideas all the time to attract costumers to shop and now it requires even faster development than once.

I my opinion the article has been written for specialist audience who are interested of how history influences to decision of designing symbols. The author also gives a clearly expressed summary of Spanish Autonomous Communities history to general readers, which gives the benefits to understand the article.

  

Questions: How important part the logo plays in fashion industry? How the logo reflects the brand´s identity?

(The most iconic logo in fashion industry, designed be Coco Chanel herself in 1925, consists of two letters “C” from her name. )