Visual Identity

Derived from Maithil practices and festivals and assumed to protect the household, the Madhubani Paintings spread since the 1960s in India and abroad. Transferred on paper in order to be commercialized, they undergo important changes. I will focus on the reception history of Mithila paintings through two Western mediators, who each declared themselves to be the discoverers of these paintings: one is British, William Archer (1907- 1979); the other French, Yves Véquaud (1938-2000). They bear witness to an international reception which underlines a particular aspect of the worldwide connected and shared histories of Bihar.
After being appointed officer of the Indian Civil Service in Bihar, Archer publishes in 1949 the article “Maithil Painting”. This is a first moment in the reception history of these paintings. His writings show a universal aesthetic, based on psychoanalyze, surrealism and an organic vision of art.
The hippie “counter-culture” renews enchanted orientalist and romantic visions of a South Asian universe presumed to be spiritual, pantheist and sensorial. Followed on the heels of the sixties, indophily appears a particularly favourable, moment - or kairos - in the reception of Maithil works. It parallels the internationalization of its actors: Erika Moser Schmitt in Germany, Tokio Hasegawa in Japan, Raymond and Naomi Owens as well as David Szanton in United States and Yves Véquaud in France. The writings of the latter mingled an aptitude to capture the “air du temps” with a real interest in India and adhered to the values of the counter-culture. He is today mostly known for his essays on Mithila paintings. The Mithila Art is published in 1976, then translated in 1977 into English and German. In 1974, he co-directed the documentary Mithila. During a period of about ten years, he exhibited his collection of Mithila paintings in France and abroad (in particular in Paris, Musée de l’Homme, Musée des arts Décoratifs...).
In 1970, Véquaud discovered the Mithila paintings in New-Delhi thanks to the museologist Ratna Fabri. He remained in India for two years, went to Madhubani and met some village painters. In his writings, the Maithil women painters are presented as charismatic figures, between holiness and genius. In 1973, Sita Devi “appears to him as a saint”, withdrawn from the world, “in a inner-peace and trust refuge which nothing could disturb". From the author’s standpoint, the talent of these painters, neo-tantric muses presumed to create only when in a yogic state, is compared with that of an exorcist. This vision of the prophetic artist, fluctuating between the christic figure of the saviour and the holy icon, also bears witness to the transformation of the status of the artist since the 19th Century in the West and to the appearance of a ”vocational regime” (Nathalie Heinich). These charismatic figures call to mind the appearance of a conception of the artist as the author of innovative works, and living a singular life. Like Braque and Rouault, the Maithil women painters would so be transformed into figures of legend, likely to guide the work of their followers in their efforts to become an artist. These prophetic artists would become a modern incarnation of holiness. In 1968, Yves Véquaud describes Mozart and Van Gogh as saints, whose example overwhelms. From his standpoint, the prophetic Maithil artists are devoid of the overwhelming heroization that affects Western artists. They would correspond to his promotion of creative spontaneity and a present freed from the burden of the past, in quest of eternal moments.
In Yves Véquaud’s conception, the women painters swing between an ideal of devout humility and religious immortality. In 1973, Sita Devi is described as the one who “knew all the honours” and yet remained “humble and loving”. From the westernized standpoint of Véquaud, the artistic success of Maithil painters may be explained by their desire for singularity and timelessness in their results. This involves both the personalization of means, namely the invention of new paths, as well as the depersonalization of the ends of the success, namely the creation of objects crystallizing values recognized beyond the author. This contingency was traditionally reserved for saints and heroes.
His admiration for these artists assumed an almost devotional character. Following the example of the canonization of Western art, Yves Véquaud established a relationship between the Maithil pictorial phenomenon and a religious phenomenon, the neo-tantrism. His behaviour was almost that of a believer. He set up his exhibitions with a nearly sacerdotal and proselytizing diligence. His hermeneutics of the works is almost theological. The conditions in which the paintings were produced has been neglected. The art of Mithila is described as a (wedding) liturgy ; the paintbrush becomes the tool of prayer. The biographies of the painters appear as a “golden legend”. Nevertheless, these exegeses underline the effective ritual dimension of these paintings. Maithil art became the sphere onto which he projected the expectations traditionally assumed by the religion. It is no longer the instrument, but the object of the sacralization. Sanctified with the admiration of Yves Véquaud, the painters were not “acknowledged by the ecclesiastical authorities”: it concords with the informal religiosity of the author. He thus put forward an essentialized vision of Mithila paintings. Perhaps it represented also an attempt to sublimate his own artistic failures by projecting onto fantasized painters an imaginary solution to a melancholy situation: giving up novelistic publications, whether due to lack of inspiration or to editorial refusals. His neo-tantric vision of Mithila paintings resulted from the kairos of the hippie phase previously evoked.
Yet in 1994 India Served and Observed, the memoirs posthumously published by William Archer and his spouse, Mildred, put forward a fanciful account about the discovery of Mithila paintings, marked with a Flower Power sensitivity : it stays in-between the construction of a storytelling and an aesthetic emotion, which is a posteriori inflamed. To seize the proclaimed strong and valued discourses of the moment on South-Asia is equivalent to a re-enchantment of Archer’s writings. This work builds itself in resonance with Véquaud’s one. Thus in this new narrative about the discovery of Mithila paintings, the meeting with the paintings and the painters is described as simultaneously exalted and distanced, but sublimated by aesthetic emotion. A narrative play takes shape wavering between desire and repression. According to their words, "in these murals we somehow electrically met".
I will analyzed in what extent these idealized works and their women heroized figures could be situated in the social context of the “counter-culture” and the hippie movement, foreseeing the globalization of Mithila paintings in the 1990s : since then some maithil artists free themselves from categories of gender, caste and local belonging. The appearance of painters men in Mithila, motivated in particular by the prospect of profits, polls gender categories associated to a practice for a long time exclusively feminine. Simultaneously some researchers deconstruct this essentialized tradition. They expound Archer’s and Vequaud's interpretations as an hegemonic discourse constituted from masculine canons.

Keywords
Visual Merchandising “V.M”, Retail Store, Corporate Identity, Windows Display, Display Design. Abstract
In today’s competitive retail environment, retailers struggle in order to increase their sales and to carry their brands to the wider masses. The best way to achieve this purpose is to consider the significance of visual merchandising. Ries (2012) asserts that aesthetics within the retail environment not only affect shopper comfort level but can influence employee morale and productivity. It helps the retailers constructing a strong and positive image for their store. V.M is the process through which a retail store’s display of products is made appealing, attractive, and enticing to the customer, not only as a stimulus to enter the store, but to create an impression in the customer’s mind. Van den Bosch, De Jong and Elving (2005) argue that visual  messages  in  corporate  communication  benefit  the  organization  in  the  visibility, distinctiveness,  authenticity,  transparency,  and  consistency  of  corporate  identity.  Thus, window displays with various visual messages of the corporation are assumed to have the responsibility of communicating corporate identity. Westcott Alessandri, (2001) argue that visual presentations can consistently bridge the corporate mission and corporate identity. Topalian, (1984) argue that VM supports effective corporate communication as it comes with the deep understanding within the company in terms of what the corporation is and what the corporation stands for. The purposes of the paper are to investigate the importance of visual merchandising  as  a  mean  of  communication,  and  to  analyse  how  visual  merchandising communicates the corporate identity for the store. The significance of the paper to contribute towards understanding  the persuasive effect  of visual  merchandising in  making the first impression, representing and promoting the corporate identity. The major results of the paper are: V.M is a retail strategy that maximizes the aesthetics of a product with the intent to increase sales, the V.M remains an important channel of corporate marketing communication.
Introduction
Over the last decade the retail industry has undergone an immense revolution, with a sharp increase in competition, especially from foreign retail chains. Visual merchandising is a retail strategy that maximizes the aesthetics of a product with the intent to increase sales. Stores are dressed to call customers, and visual merchandising plays a major role in that. In present times, consumers are not influenced anymore from the sales, but they are influenced by the showcases, a product of the merchandiser. Store image and shopping environment for stores is a significant determinant to spend time in the store and to spend more money than planned. Visual merchandising is a major way of communicating with the customers. It has become a very essential tool in today’s era where marketers find new and innovative ways to grab the attention of customers. The fierce competition in the market today has led retail stores to increasingly use visual merchandising to differentiate themselves from competitors, which would ultimately help increase their corporate identity recall in the minds of the customers. Visual attraction and communication have been considered vital components of retailing suggested by researchers and practitioners both (McGoldrick, 2002). Corporate identity is extremely vital to a company, because through the communication of corporate identity the

Il y a très exactement 50 ans, en janvier 1964, Ken Garland publia dans le Guardian un manifeste intitulé First Things First, signé par 22 designers, et dans lequel l’auteur dénonçait, à une époque qui était celle des (M)ad Men, les dérives d’une profession encore naissante au service du mode de vie occidental capitaliste et de l’économie de marché. Écrit en Angleterre, foyer des révolutions industrielles et des luttes sociales du XIXe siècle observées par Marx, lieu de naissance du design, le manifeste condamnait de manière virulente une partie de la profession épuisant « son temps et son énergie à créer une demande pour des choses qui sont au mieux superflues », et militait pour une pratique saine et éthique du design graphique qui porterait sur des questions plus fondamentales, environnementales, sociales et culturelles.
35 ans plus tard, à l’automne 1999, le texte est remanié par Rick Poynor et publié dans la revue Adbusters, signé par 33 designers, dont Zuzana Licko, Jonathan Barnbrook, Irma Boom, Armand Mevis, Ellen Lupton et bien d’autres. Ainsi réactualisé, ce First Things First 2000 Manifesto réaffirmait l’urgence d’une prise de conscience que le premier manifeste avait échoué à faire advenir.
Quelques mois plus tard, Michael Bierut de l’agence Pentagram, se faisant le relais des nombreuses critiques adressées aux signataires de ce nouveau manifeste, signe dans la revue ID un texte offrant sous forme de dix notes de bas de page (au manifeste), un commentaire critique qui pointe les contradictions d’une posture idéologique trop vertueuse pour être soutenable dans une économie globalisée.
Depuis les Don Draper des années 1950 aux Armand Mevis des années 2010, la pratique du design graphique s’est profondément transformée, voire démocratisée du fait du développement des pratiques numériques et des outils qui la rendent possible. On constate cependant que les questions posées par le manifeste de 1964 ont continué à agiter – plus ou moins souterrainement suivant les périodes – le champ du design graphique pendant les cinquante années qui suivirent. Si la charge critique de 1964 reste ainsi d’actualité, c’est qu’en s’attachant à définir les enjeux éthiques et idéologiques du design graphique, elle contribue à en dessiner les contours, c’est-à-dire, à en donner une définition. Cette histoire nous invite alors à nous interroger sur la légitimité de la distinction entre « culturel » et « commercial », sur la « division du travail du sens » comme mode opératoire du design depuis le Bauhaus (si l’on s’accorde avec le Marx de Baudrillard), sur les métamorphoses des procédés publicitaires et sur l’extension du champ du design au domaine de l’existence (prophétisé par Moholy-Nagy) propre à la postmodernité.
Il s’agit, dans ce texte – dans ces quelques « notes de bas de pages » aux Dix notes de bas de page de Michael Bierut – non pas de commenter l’histoire et la genèse de ces questions, mais d’en postuler l’actualité, et de tenter d’y répondre en réaffirmant le caractère fondamentalement social de cette activité particulière – le design graphique – qui consiste, pour reprendre les mots d’Abraham Moles, à « actualiser cette adéquation symbolique entre le donné de l'environnement et le projet de vie »

Este projeto apresenta a proposta de uma nova identidade visual para a TV Ceará, emissora pública administrada pelo Governo do Estado do Ceará. O propósito da emissora é evidenciar e valorizar a cultura, o povo e as peculiaridades locais, resumidas pelo termo Cearensidade. A análise do atual sistema gráfico aponta precariedades na representação desse propósito. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho é apontar referências à Cearensidade adequando-as aos ditames atuais da Comunicação Visual. Para isso, partindo de teorias e fundamentações que abordam a representatividade dos fenômenos culturais, bem como o estudo sobre a cultura cearense e suas referências visuais, surgiu uma matriz conceitual, pela qual foi desenvolvido um conjunto de elementos gráficos e uma nova assinatura visual que, de uma forma sistemática e organizada, expressam a identidade da TV Ceará e do povo cearense.

This project proposes a new visual identity for TV Ceará, a public broadcaster managed by State Government of Ceará. Its purpose is is to highlight and enhance the local culture, people and peculiarities – summarized by the term Cearensidade. However, by analyzing its current graphics system, we are faced with insecurities in the representation of this purpose. From this fact, we set the goal of creating a project that references to Cearensidade become more authentic, not failing to conform to the current trends of Graphic Design. For this, from theories and foundations that address the representation of cultural phenomena, as well as the study of Ceará culture and its visual references, we elaborated a conceptual framework, which will be developed by a set of graphic elements and a new visual signature that expresses the identity of TV Ceará and people of Ceará, through a synthetic and organized mode.

The prerogative of identity design has always been to manage the visual representation of an object, individual, organisation. Traditionally, a visual identity revolves around a prime signifier, which is said to stand for a specific entity. Its objective is to fulfil the four fundamental functions of visual communication – to identify, to inform, to present and to promote – and to conform the perception of the audience.

While all the visual identities share the same objective, they employ different methods to achieve it. The design process, whether the identity is fixed or flexible, is generally focused on the appearance of a predetermined result. On the other hand, the human sense of the word identity can be achieved only by showing change over a period of time balancing between sameness and difference, repetition and variation. Consequently, an identity shouldn’t be defined merely statically or dynamically, but also behaviourally.

Thus a meta-approach, whose outputs aren’t determined in advance but are generated through a dialectic process, might be a viable option. The term ‘meta-identity’ has been coined to describe the typology of visual identity which ranges between parametric values theorised in the research. In particular, this project addresses the design process of typographic logo solutions and investigates how type design methodology could positively affect it.

Video: https://vimeo.com/183538660.

Brand archives is a journey into a practice-related doctoral research project on graphic design and brand identity. By addressing the relevance of brand archives to companies, designers and the broader culture, this exhibition represents a critique as to how the cultural inheritance of locally specific heritage brands is often overlooked and tends to dissolve amongst global influence.
Through a ‘designerly’ way of exploring brand identity the exhibition presents brand archaeology as a methodological system for the rescuing, recovery and analysis of historical memory related to brand imagery. The thesis argues that brand archives are key instruments for designers to derive meaning and convey cultural memory into the future, and that visual identity is a channel through which cultural memory can be acknowledged, displayed and experienced.

The main case study addresses the historical context and today’s symbolic and cultural relevance of a unique archive and collection of the Portuguese iconic Sanjo sports shoes (1933–1996).
The Sanjos emerged with the rise of the ‘Estado Novo’ authoritarian regime in Portugal (New State, 1933–1974), ultimately failing to resist to the threat of global brands during the 1990s.
Whether for companies, cultural institutions, designers, educators or historians dealing with locally specific identities and visual culture, the body of work presented here makes a contribution to broadening the scope of brands as a theme under-considered with respect to the preservation of cultural difference.

Dans ce séminaire nous traitons ce qu’on appelle « identité visuelle », c’est-à-dire l’usage systématique d’un ensemble de signes récurrents (verbaux, iconiques, plastiques, sonores, …) dans tous les supports et dans toutes les actions de communication d’une organisation.
Les signes utilisés pour exprimer l’identité visuelle constituent le cœur du langage de communication d’une organisation

Abstrak Kota Malang merupakan kota yang tengah berkembang dengan potensi dibidang pendidikan dan industri kreatif yang cukup besar, telah menjadi tujuan bagi masyarakat urban yang bermukim di kota-kota lain untuk sekadar belajar atau mencari mata pencaharian. Banyak sekali pendatang yang bermukim sementara atau menetap, karena memang Kota Malang disamping menjadi destinasi pendidikan, juga menjai destinasi wisata. Keberadaan masyarakat urban di Kota Malang membuat geliat ekonomi di kota ini juga terangkat. Termasuk usaha kuliner pinggir jalan. Warung-warung tenda dipinggir jalan tumbuh menjamur dengan beragam pilihan kuliner. Warung-warung tenda ini memiliki berbagai macam identitas ang dibuat dengan teknik mannual untuk dikenal dan diingat oleh masyarakat sebagai konsumennya. Karya-karya ini disebut dengan karya graphic vernacular, yang terdiri dari tipografi dan ilustrasi. Penelitian ini untuk mengkaji faktor-faktor yang bersangkutan dengan graphic vernacular yang dapat dijadikan sebagai alat identitas dan sistem tanda. Hasil dari penelitian ini adalah bahwa graphic vernakular yang terdapat pada spanduk warung tenda dapat menjadi identitas sekaligus sistem tanda yang mudah untuk diidentifikasi masyarakat. Abstract Malang City is a city that is developing with the potential in the field of education and a large enough creative industry, has become a destination for urban people who live in other cities to just study or find a livelihood. There are so many immigrants who live temporarily or permanently, because indeed Malang City besides being an educational destination, is also a tourist destination. The existence of urban communities in the city of Malang makes the economic stretch in this city also lifted. Including roadside culinary business. Tent stalls on the side of the road grow mushrooming with a variety of culinary choices. These tent stalls have various kinds of identities that are made with manual techniques to be known and remembered by the community as consumers. These works are called vernacular graphic works, which consist of typography and illustrations. This study is to examine the factors concerned with vernacular graphics which can be used as an identity and sign system. The results of this study are that the vernacular graphics found on tent stalls banners can be an identity as well as a sign system that is easily identified by the community.

Un gran número de autores y profesionales alude a la simplicidad como uno de los atributos fundamentales en la definición del buen diseño; sin embargo, cabe preguntarse por la percepción del público ante este rasgo visual. A partir de una experiencia piloto previa, el presente estudio busca analizar la respuesta del destinatario ante la simplicidad o la complejidad-su técnica opuesta-en el ámbito de la identidad visual, concretamente. La investigación realiza una descripción previa de ambos conceptos mediante cinco variables y recurre al índice de Preferencia como herramienta para evaluar la reacción del receptor. Siguiendo este modelo, y mediante la valoración del rediseño de 30 identificadores reales por parte de 1304 participantes, el trabajo concluye que existe una significativa inclinación hacia la simplicidad, que se incrementa notablemente en la medida en que el vínculo del sujeto con el diseño gráfico (en cuanto a perfil profesional, formación y conocimientos) es más estrecho. Palabras clave: Simplicidad; diseño gráfico; identidad visual; preferencia; marcas gráficas. [en] Simplicity in the design of graphic marks: analysis of preference Abstract. Many authors and professionals refer to the simplicity as one of the fundamental features of good design; however, it seems necessary to wonder about the perception of the public about this visual characteristic. From a previous pilot experience, this study tries to analyze the response towards simplicity or complexity-its opposite technique-in the field of visual identity, specifically. The research makes a previous description of both concepts from five variables and uses the Preference index as a tool to measure the reaction of the receiver. Following this model, and through the evaluation of the redesign of 30 real graphic marks by 1304 participants, the work concludes that there is a significant predilection for simplicity, which increases remarkably when the relationship between the subject and graphic design (in terms of professional profile, training and knowledge) is closer.

The focus of this conceptual paper is the Khan Shatyr mall in Astana, designed by British architect Sir Norman Foster and opened in 2010, and its implications for our understanding of the re-enchantment of consumption. A detailed discussion of the mall, which pays close attention to its architectural design, is followed by a conclusion in which I outline the need for a new approach to the re-enchantment of consumption. In particular, I call for: more research to be conducted on non-Western retail environments; consideration of mall architecture; and a fundamentally interdisciplinary approach to re-enchantment, which would lay greater emphasis on the political, geographical and socio-economic contexts of retail marketing and shopping mall design.

Abstract: In this paper we discuss how the teaching of visual identity in graphic design education may be redeveloped within a speculative design framework. We inquire into how the teaching of visual identity design was framed speculatively with reference to a student project focusing on future scenarios for water sustainability. We propose the concept speculative graphic design, and discuss the implications such a concept might have for the teaching of visual identity in graphic design, and how this may position graphic design more as an agenda-setting discipline. Via analysis of selected student work, we inquire into how such a framing may both destabilise and consolidate conservative approaches to identity design with reference to water sustainability.

Lorsqu’il s’agit d’identifier, le design graphique procède d’un certain nombre de choix contextuels, qui mobilisent ces outils visuels que sont les mots, les images, les mot-images. Ce texte présente le design graphique dans cette perspective, en passant par plusieurs exemples de différentes échelles. Du pictogramme à l’identité visuelle d’une entreprise, c’est l’ensemble de notre univers de signes qui opère selon le régime de l’identification. Ce texte est publié dans Le kit pédagogique « Ludographe – Connaître et pratiquer le design graphique à l’école élémentaire », qui propose aux enseignants·e·s un ensemble d’outils et d’informations qui constituent une introduction au design graphique adaptée à leurs pratiques professionnelles.

"O presente trabalho propõe-se abordar a relação entre design e indústria como meio passível de contribuir efectivamente para a minimização do défice de imagem de que o produto português de calçado padece. São abordados temas essenciais associados às vantagens competitivas das marcas enquanto recurso estratégico, analisando sobretudo laços de estreita colaboração e de relacionamento entre as organizações e intérpretes relevantes da cultura do design, numa perspectiva que considera a integração de produto e comunicação. O branding enquanto disciplina, ajuda-nos a compreender como o processo de integração do design nas organizações tem vindo progressivamente a ser estabelecido numa lógica de continuidade e de evolução das marcas. A relação que o tema das marcas estabelece com o calçado em particular prende-se com o distanciamento latente entre a indústria e o design, factor que, acreditamos, se encontra relacionado com a origem desse défice. Considerando os recursos técnicos, tecnológicos e know-how existentes, e a identidade cultural portuguesa como ponto de partida, bem como as preocupações actuais em torno da sustentabilidade e dos mercados globais, pretende-se caminhar no sentido da descoberta de potenciais de evolução em produtos tradicionais portugueses e em marcas portuguesas do Séc. XX passíveis de serem reinterpretadas sob uma perspectiva do design em direcção à indústria, e vice-versa.
ABSTRACT: The present work aims to analyse the relationship between design and industry as a positive contribution towards the development of a Portuguese footwear favorable image. The competitive advantages of trademarks are studied as relevant strategic tools towards the organizations, how they emerge from the collaboration established between design and industry, under a design perspective that includes both product and communication. Branding, an emerging discipline quickly developing within the organizational and market fields, helps us understand how design, trademarks and organizational identity, can be effective tools to achieve competitiveness. The link between brands and shoes derives from the existing gap between Portuguese design and designers and the Portuguese footwear industry. Considering the existing technological resources, and a strong Portuguese cultural identity, we believe in the potential of such inspiring resources under contemporary design approaches."

"Visual identity can be understood as the result of the application of graphic design methods aimed at inter-brand differentiation, which paradoxically is leading to “homogenizing identities” (Bell, 2004). The globalization of visual identity is a phenomenon that can be observed not only among global brands competing with each other, but also in locally specific heritage brands that relinquish distinctive elements of their identity to resemble the global. In many cases, their specificities end up being distorted, blurred, or lost, and the richness of what is historically and culturally unique about them is often misinterpreted, neglected, or even discarded.
By showing what can be lost with regards to historical and cultural memory within a brand’s imagery, this thesis questions the significance of archives to locally specific brands claiming symbolic and cultural relevance. It shows how can graphic designers can contribute to the preservation of cultural diversity through visual identity.
To address the loss of cultural memory as well as the globalization of visual identity, this study draws on visual design heritage to achieve an understanding of the past as a source and a means to feed future cultural development. By adapting visual methodologies and case-study methods to assess brand identity, the study presents a methodological approach for the rescuing, interpretative analysis, and exploration of historical memory in brand imagery. It applies ethnographic research methods for data collection and graphic design methods for recovering visual materials, combined with timelines and grids for contextual and visual analysis. A main case-study is presented to demonstrate how the methods originated, how they enable the observation of identity transformations over time, and of how visual identity dissolves with global influence. This case addresses the historical context and today’s cultural relevance of an archive of the Portuguese iconic Sanjo sports shoes brand, which emerged with the rise of the ‘Estado Novo’ authoritarian regime in Portugal (1933–1974). Through the interpretation of how brand designs evolved in relation to contextual history it is possible to see the various social, cultural, political and economical transformations that occurred in their life spans.
The thesis presents parallel examples of brands that were heavily influenced or even controlled by government in the past and now operate independently. As with the case of Sanjo, the comparative study investigates, and further draws attention to the relationship between the loss of historical memory and the globalization of visual identity.
By examining the relevance of archives for addressing identity issues, the thesis shows that current graphic design practices can avoid failing to address historical contextualisation and cultural relevance if, firstly, a great deal of historical and cultural memory is retrieved, secondly, if there is substantial visual and contextual analysis, and thirdly, if the visual elements and histories uncovered are put together in the right context. By considering the possibilities that brand archives present for exploring the symbolic values of objects and generating meaning, this study fills a gap between archival practices and the way many designers and companies are dealing with locally specific brands. It argues that brand archives are key instruments for designers to derive meaning and convey cultural memory into the future, and that visual identity is a channel through which these can be acknowledged, displayed and experienced. The study concludes by suggesting possible approaches graphic designers might pursue to address the issues identified, and it broadens the scope of the directions in which brand archives can be explored through the re-contextualisation of cultural objects."

In today’s competitive environment, any organisation should carefully design its communication strategy as it reflects on its overall image. On one hand, this article aims to define what a good visual identity means by highlighting the elements of a good visual identity through a qualitative analysis of more than three dozen visual identities documents from organisations from different industries, private companies, governmental agencies and NGOs. Moreover, by observing different perspectives on what organisations consider as a desired visual identity, the article suggests directions for improving the visual identity documentation. Finally, as the most common elements of visual identity are identified, the authors briefly draft a strategy for creating a visual identity.

Visual identity is an everyday work for the majority of contemporary graphic designers, one of the most challenging forms of visual identity is dynamic identity. Dynamic identity assumes using some randomly generated parts in the design (for example, the appearance of the logo can vary in a broad range). Some designers that worked on the dynamic identity projects create visual identity by intuition, selecting a simple principle for adding randomness, the others develop a very specific approach of adding randomness in each project. The author of this paper believed that the dynamic identity represents the example of using controlled randomness in design, so the systematic approach should exist for adding randomness to the dynamic identity system.
This paper discusses a way of using controlled randomness in the development of visual identity, determines the elements of design and a principle of considerable changes in dynamic identity system, explores several different algorithms of applying randomness to visual identity for making it dynamic identity. These algorithms are also evaluated on their potential and usefulness in the process of development of the dynamic identity system.

A pesquisa está centrada no campo do design, mais precisamente no design de comunicação. O foco está nos sistemas de identidade e na expansão simbólicas das marcas corporativas.
O uso de símbolos para a identidade de indivíduos e grupos é de origem remotíssima. A adoção de conjuntos de representações da realidade e de hábitos, por meio de uma síntese gráfica, está na base de todas as culturas. A primeira parte da pesquisa recupera as origens dos sistemas de identidade a partir do momento que, não mais um símbolo, mas, sim, um sistema é organizado para a Identificação de pessoas, propriedades e instituições. É traçado o percurso histórico e comprova, desde a origem no período medieval , quais prerrogativas ainda são presentes em muitos sistemas contemporâneos de marcas.
A tese apresenta um regaste da gramática heráldica medieval e relaciona, a metodologia de construção e concepção dos primeiros sistemas, com os métodos atuais para a construção e sistematização dos usos das marcas.
A segunda etapa da pesquisa concentra-se na análise de marcas com grande penetração na economia e revela que ainda são mantidos alguns aspectos importantes, herdados desde  a Idade Média. Alguns se perderam, e outros são importantes de ser recuperados para a defesa da tese proposta, de que as marcas devem ser tratadas pelos designers como símbolos permanentes, e não mutáveis, defendendo a sistematização de seu uso, de forma mais abrangente e flexível.
A tese propõe uma revisão nos métodos de planejamento e implantação das suas estruturas de uso, prevendo atualizações mais constantes e frequentes do sistema de comunicação, e não no design próprio da marca.
Durante o século XX, as marcas adquiriram mais poder que estados e governos. A ampliação do universo imagético das marcas na economia e na representação  das relações sociais ampliou a sua participação, e penetração nas plataformas mediáticas, fazendo com que permeiem e pertençam à vida dos consumidores, podendo figurar nos mais variados suportes, substratos e mídias. Para essa expansão  das marcas, é proposto um novo método que permite a ampliação  de seus sistemas de usos, sendo esse sistema uma orientação e esquematização  que prevê os novos canais de expressão da marca e possibilita a sua permanente atualização, acompanhando  a sua mobilidade, as mudanças sociais e de comportamento  de seus  usuários e stakeholders.

Museutopia. A Photographic Research Project by Ilya Rabinovich
will be of great interest for a large audience of people from the lovers of photography, museums, history or Moldova‘s cultural life to the consecrated scholars studying visual arts, philosophy, ethnography, museology or memory and identity through the investigation of complex interrelationship between ‗gaze,
diaspora, trauma‘ (p. 15). The impact of dramatic transformations happened between the last decade of socialist period and the first two decades of post-soviet Moldova history still constitutes a disputable topic among specialists from different fields, as well as the emerging public history discourses on memory, identity
and nation-building. Along the lines of Benedict Anderson work on nationalism and identity (Anderson 1991), the specialists in cultural
heritage Peter Aronsson and Gabriella Elgenius consider, in terms of imagination, national museums are uniquely placed to illuminate that which is actually imagined with reference to an emerging,re-emerging or fully formed nation‘‘(Aronsson, Elgenius 2011, 5).

臺灣氣候適合栽種竹子，且竹子的用途廣泛（竹筍、竹籜、竹材等），是臺灣具代表性的重要經濟作物，近年來友善環境的農耕方式也越來越受重視。本創作以視覺識別系統加值臺灣在地的竹筍產業，透過視覺識別系統將理念挹注於農產品並以新的樣貌呈現，傳達給消費者，期待隨著農業經濟的發展傳達環境友善的理念。

本創作視覺識別系統的創作過程分為以下幾個步驟：（1）搜尋題材、（2）企業形象調查、（3）訂定企業／品牌名稱、（4）發展企業／品牌標誌、（5）發展標準字、（6）訂定標準色、（7）品牌視覺識別之應用等步驟，將抽象的理念轉化成具體形象，將企業／品牌及產品的內涵與理念傳達給消費者，使之產生認同感，進而促進購買的意願，除了傳達企業的理念和文化，希望透過視覺提高經濟價值外，也能為臺灣農業帶來新的風潮。
The climate in Taiwan is perfect for the growing of bamboo, which has a wide range of uses (bamboo shoots, bamboo sheath, bamboo wood etc.). It is also one of the country’s most important cash crops and impacted in recent years by the greater importance attached to environmentally friendly farming. This work employs a visual identity system to create added value for the local bamboo shoot industry, by presenting ideas and agricultural products to consumers in a new way that stimulates the development of the rural economy. This work divides the creation of a visual identity system into the following steps: (1) Search for subject matter; (2) Corporate image survey; (3) Fixed enterprise / brand name; (4) Development of company / brand mark; (5) Development of standard lettering; (6) Fixed standard colors; (7) Application of brand visual identity. This process involves transforming abstract concepts into representational images so that the information on the company, brand and product can be communicated to the consumer in a way that established identification and thereby makes consumers more likely to make purchases. In addition to conveying corporate philosophy, culture and creating economic value, this process also creates a new trend in Taiwanese farming.

Since 2014 the City of Bogor has made several programmes that are intended to raise its brand. Through multiple events and development, Bogor has able to reach new heights and showcases it's potential to be branded properly. From observations on various sites in Bogor and also reviewing publications and documentation on the designs produced for Bogor; it can be inferred that Bogor's brand touchpoints aren't consistent and do not represent what Bogor's essential identity was. Later on, after a series of studies and interviews, it is concluded that Bogor has a dire need of a brand identity redesign, starting with its visual identity. The need for identity is answered with two alternative logo designs that are shown in this paper. Both designs attempt to show parts of Bogor's identity and heritage through a rationale and a contemporary approach to designing a logo. Though the design project was a simulation for a student's final project, the designs were evaluated and presented to the staffs of the Bogor City government; one design is selected and developed further to visual elements that are implemented on several items and brand touchpoints. In the end, this paper attempts to show a comprehensive design process on designing a visual identity for a city, starting from the research, ideation and also crafting the visuals.

Este trabalho trata do processo de criação da identidade visual de um evento de música pop sul-coreana voltado para o público adolescente e jovem, chamado NOLJA.

Aborda também a conceituação baseada na particularidade deste público e do segmento musical que tem pouca divulgação no Brasil na grande mídia e ainda assim encontra aqui um mercado fiel. Além de pesquisar a respeito das características do gênero musical que produz essa aproximação entre culturas completamente distintas.

O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver a identidade visual do evento utilizando a mesma premissa: unindo as formas do alfabeto coreano com a tipografia latina e suas aplicações nos produtos pertinentes. Como contribuição, espera-se que este trabalho auxilie na divulgação do segmento de mercado do setor audiovisual, ainda pouco explorado.

O reconhecimento desta lacuna de mercado e a busca da sua representação gráfica que contemple as necessidades de duas culturas diferentes compõem o cerne deste projeto.

Palavras-chave: Design Gráfico, Identidade Visual, K-Pop, música, evento, show, cultura, entretenimento, hibridismo, transnacionalidade, hangul, tipografia, Coreia do Sul.

This paper is about the process of creation of a visual identity of a fictional South Korean pop music event targeting the teen and young adult market. This event is called NOLJA.
It is also about the conceptualization of such project based on peculiarity of this public and musical segment which has not a large space on Brazillian mass media and still finds a way to conqueer a faithfull market. Besides, this paper shows a research on caracteristics of this musical genre that may have produced an approach between completely distinct cultures.
The objective of this work is to develop a visual identity of the event using the same premise: uniting Korean alphabet forms with latin typography ans its aplications on related products. As a contribuition, I hope this project helps propagating this audiovisual segment yet to be explored.
The acknowledge of this gap in the market and the search for a graphical representation that combines the needs of both cultures is the heart of this project.

Keywords: Graphic Design, Visual Identity, K-Pop, music, event, show, culture, entertainment, hybridism, transnationanity, hangul, typography, South Korea.

In the world of modern communications, visual identity has predominant influence on the overall success of tourist destinations, but despite of these, the problem of designing thriving tourist destination visual identity and their components are hardly addressed. This study highlights the importance of building and managing the visual identity of tourist destination, and based on the empirical study of well-known Mediterranean destination of Croatia analyses three main components of tourist destination visual identity; name, slogan, and logo. Moreover, the paper shows how respondents perceive each component of Croatia's visual identity. According to study, logo is the most important, followed by the name and slogan. Research also reveals that Croatian economy lags behind developed countries in understanding the importance of visual identity, and its influence on marketing goal achievements.

Si les langages visuels ne sont qu’une version plus complexe et donc plus adaptée à notre monde actuel des logotypes corporates de l’âge d’or du modernisme, il partagent cependant avec ces derniers un même besoin d’adhésion, une même logique performative, et peut-être un même rapport au pouvoir. Quel rôle nos systèmes visuels jouent-il réellement dans notre environnement immédiat ? De quoi les investissons nous au quotidien ? De quelle manière participent-il à la construction sociale et culturelle de notre environnement visuel ? Si les orientations contemporaines des études visuelles ont tendance à porter sur l’ « agir » des images et leur capacité performative, et s’il est établi que le logotype est la forme que prend le discours lorsqu’il veut « faire image », il semble pertinent de s’interroger sur la place que prennent ces signes dans notre monde, et sur la manière dont ils peuvent à la fois représenter – présenter à nouveau –, tout en étant investis d’une autorité et d’une légalité propres. La « logologie », littéralement « science du discours », doublant avec un peu d’ironie sa racine grecque, peut aussi s’entendre comme une science du logotype, si du moins l’on retient que la manière tout à fait visuelle dont ce dernier se présente à nous, reste fondamentalement redoublée, contrariée ou renforcée – selon les cas – par la logique propre du discours. Au double sens de logotype et de discours, qu’est ce que le logos peut bien vouloir dire ?

De nos jours, les objets visuels produits par le design – identités visuelles, sites internet, affiches, campagnes de communication, etc. – semblent susciter des réactions et des sentiments contradictoires. D’une part, la conception de ces objets, engageant des choix de forme, de couleur, de typographie, d’image, passe pour une activité superficielle, supposée trouver ses raisons, bien loin des problèmes fondamentaux posés par la conduite du monde, dans le champ élargi et si discuté de l’esthétique. D’autre part, ces choix n’apparaissent pas si inoffensifs, si l’on se fie à l’amplitude des réactions qu’ils provoquent, allant de l’indignation la plus profonde aux louanges exacerbées. Comment une activité aussi superficielle peut‑elle faire l’objet de si vives réactions ? Que peuvent nous apprendre des inclinations aussi antagonistes sur le design graphique ?

Ce texte est une présentation du travail d'identité visuelle conçu pour l'Université de Strasbourg par le laboratoire Identités complexes entre 2015 et 1017.

The subject of this paper is the male body in contemporary Russian fashion photography. My aim is to locate such photography within current debates around subject construction, representation and masculinity. In particular, I argue that a number of images of the male body to be found on the web sites of three Russian fashion designers, namely Serguei Teplov, Cyrille Gassiline and Gosha Rubchinskiy, can be read as homoerotic. This emergent homoeroticism is all the more interesting because it comes at a time when Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, has made heroic, heteronormative masculinity a central pillar, both of his own personal popularity and of Russian national identity. As well as being noteworthy in itself, this raises important questions about the ideological nature of men's fashion photography, not just in twenty-first century Russia, but also in a more general sense.

The general intention of this paper is to provide insight into a problematic area, that of visual application respectful of cultural diversity, and to demonstrate the relevance of graphic design research in a societal environment. The paper presents methods and results from two completed research projects in the field of intercultural visual communication. The key findings of Research Project 1 are methods of multilingual typography communicated by type specimens and text samples, annotations on books, visual examples from Chinese designers and texts. The most important results of Research Project 2 are visually communicated by 120 newly drawn infographics. In addition, a new research plan will be discussed, namely the development of visual identities for public institutions that implement cultural and social diversity policies. The proposed design methods in all three projects respond to the complexity of changing social requirements and forms of communication. They have been developed through visual applications of design that focus on the approach called “research through design.” The fundamental research goal is to practice sovereign interaction, also with visual differences, and thus counters the tendency of globalization and commercialization to equalize differences.

La imagen tiene un rol importante en la construcción de la identidad partiendo del esquema teórico y operativo que relaciona dos entornos culturales: uno, definido como cultura emisora y el otro como cultura receptora, relacionados mediante ciertos principios contractuales que permiten su integración. Esto se hace evidente en un proceso de varios siglos de interacción iconosemiótica cultural, cuyo resultado es la construcción de identidades transculturizadas para las instituciones gubernamentales, desde la representación de la corona española de los conquistadores mediante los sistemas heráldicos hasta la identificación de los gobiernos democráticos de los pueblos. Este artículo analiza y presenta los momentos, acciones y relaciones importantes en la conformación de la identidad patria en Venezuela, y concluye que la estructura heráldica se mantiene en la iconografía gubernamental de Venezuela como una forma de simbolización del poder político, contribuyendo históricamente a mantener un ideal de orden que permite cambiar un discurso preservando su estructura. Los roles de cultura emisora y cultura receptora cambian bajo la bandera de la revolución política bolivariana del presidente Hugo Chávez que, dirigida hacia la transformación sociopolítica y cultural, encuentra su principal arma en la revolución de la imagen, movilizando el cambio iconosemiótico de los símbolos patrios hacia la construcción de una nueva identidad.

Purpose-This paper aims to understand how social, cultural and political economic dynamics inform packaging design. Specifically, it focuses on one of the oldest Turkish pasta brands, Piyale, and seeks to understand the impact of the changes in the macro-institutional structures on its packaging practices over the course of almost a century. Design/methodology/approach-The analysis is mainly based on data collected through archival and documentary research. The archival data are gathered from various sources including the personal archives of the former managers, advertisements published in the popular magazines of the time and industry reports and documents. Data are analyzed using a combination of compositional and social semiotic analysis. Findings-The analysis indicates four distinct periods in the brand's history. The design elements and visual identity reflect the social, cultural, political, economic and technological changes shaping the Turkish society in these different time periods. The findings show that a socio-historically situated analysis of a brand's packaging design transformation reveals the complex relationship between design and culture and provides clues to the market-society interface. Originality/value-This study provides a comprehensive historical analysis of the visual identity evolution of the oldest Turkish pasta brand Piyale and contributes to research on packaging histories in the non-Western markets.

The young democratic nation of Moldova (formerly USSR) has a tumultuous relationship with its own history. From the height of Communism to the years after its fall, nationalistic narratives and “organized forgetting” of certain events have influenced Moldovans’ understanding of their past, and the content of their museums. In this paper, photographs of two of Moldova’s national museums in the capital city of Chişinău are used as case studies to examine contemporary Moldovan curation. This inquiry into the current state of the museum demonstrates that Soviet display techniques continue to haunt exhibition spaces and that the exhibitions themselves promote a particular –but inconsistent– idea of national identity.

In the communication design field, main applications of a generative approach are for information graphics and flexible visual identities. Looking to recent practices we can observe cases of visual identities – that can be defined as dynamic or post-logo – that present a completely opposite approach compared to the traditional production in the field of corporate image. The use of visual languages that are more fluid and expressive, variable, context related, processual, performative, non-linear, consistent are now preferred to the usual and static repetition of a logo or an imposed series of rules. The classical structure of corporate identity – a subject representation through a series of primary and subsidiary visual elements which has in the manual his book of rules – is reactivated by the use of meta-design tools and processes that can be compared to the transition from closed to open systems.
Galanter affirmed that generative art refers to any practice where an artist uses a system, such as a set of natural language rules, a computer program, a machine, or other procedural invention, which is set into motion with some degree of autonomy contributing to or resulting in a completed work of art. This definition emphasizes the artist proactive role in the definition of rules or guidelines that allow the production of multiple solutions consistently to the framework. This is the same in the generative design practices, that look to be something more than just a generation Y passion.
In generative design practices, the user of computer and ready-made digital tools (professional softwares) becomes the programmer of personalized digital toolboxes – often developed by using Processing, VVVV or java-script codes –. This approach deeply changes the design process and the perspective of practitioners, introducing the idea of a new craftsmanship. Technical issues remain in the background, abstraction and data parameters come into the foreground. This new scenario in the creative and design process empowers the designer, freeing he from the constraints of predefined computational tools, and promoting creative freedom in the construction of visual metaphors.
The aim of this paper is to argue this recent evolution in the field of visual identities and in the wider area of communication design practice. by showing a series of case histories as well as presenting the results of some experimental projects.

The main aim of this thesis is twofold. Firstly, this investigation seeks to broaden the scope of graphic design history as it pertains to visual identity design by documenting the existence of an alternative paradigm—dynamic visual identity design—which has developed alongside the prevailing visual identity design paradigm—static visual identity design—but which is not currently well documented or understood. To this end, case studies will be provided to demonstrate that these two schools of thought have existed contemporaneously since the inception of visual identity design in the first decade of the twentieth century. Secondly, this investigation seeks to assist graphic design educators and practitioners in finding practical application of dynamic visual identity design in the classroom and professional practice by examining the mechanics of visual identity design and delineating three generative techniques for creating dynamic visual identity systems. Prototypes have been developed as part of this inquiry, and are presented as a way of demonstrating how these techniques are used to design functioning dynamic visual identity systems. Promoting the hegemony of one visual identity paradigm over another is not a goal of this thesis, nor is it a goal of the author to suggest that one visual identity paradigm should supplant another. Rather, it is hoped that a pluralistic view of visual identity design has been advanced in order to allow designers the broadest possible landscape and greatest opportunity to modify and adapt their approach based on the specific needs of the stakeholders with whom they design.

Image is one of key elements which determines whether contemporary market entities achieve a competitive advantage. This is also true in case of universities which compete with each other - mainly to attract students. The image of a university in its environment is to a large extent determined by consistent application of the system of visual identity, which includes recommendations concerning the functioning of an organization in the sphere of markers (symbolism). The basic goal of this article is to define the factors conditioning the efficient utilization of such systems by universities. Exemplification of the process of planning and implementing solutions from the area of visual identity was carried out on the basis of Rzeszow University of Technology. Reference was also made to the effects of functioning of the system of visual identity of the university from Podkarpacie region through the investigation of the students' awareness of the existence of a standardized structure of markers and the perception of current utilization of its elements. In the supplement a division of universities in Poland, according to the scope of held systems of visual identity was carried out.

"De Gruyter versus Simon de Wit : Supermarket visual identies in the early seventies

In 1972 the Dutch supermarket chains De Gruyter and Simon de Wit both launched a new visual identity. The De Gruyter identity was the work of Total Design and was highly modernistic. By contrast, the style which Tel Design came up with for Simon de Wit can best be described as early post-modernist. It was emblematic of a period in which modernism was increasingly coming under attack within the Dutch design world."

The communication design field it is considerably changed in the last 20 years and more as well as the role of the designer. Technology has modified the daily work tools, and new possible relations between the designer, the commitment, and the final user can be underlined.
Observing some of the most experimental practices, new visual languages have drawn the attention, affected by innovative approaches and mixed competencies. The area of visual identities is especially of interest, not excluding other areas of experimentations.
The phenomenon of the so-called dynamic or post-logo identities underlined the possibilities of using more fluid and expressive, variable, context related, processual, performative, non-linear, consistent visual languages instead of the usual and static repetition of a logo or an imposed series of rules (Felsing, 2010). However, also their contradictions in making recognizable an organization and in the visual identity daily management.
An interesting evolution to be underlined is in the use of the digital tools, not anymore in a passive way but in an active way. Visual designers can build their digital tools basing them on design and esthetic needs. The designer is not anymore just the user of ready-made digital tools, becoming himself programmer of customized digital toolboxes by using open source codes or hardware like Arduino. Not just a DIY attitude but something that it is changing the control knobs of a design system in all its process and development.
As far as technology support is relevant, technical matters are relegated in the background on behalf of abstraction and data parametrization that means on behalf of a meta-design level. The use of programming in creative and visual communication design processes “empowers the designer, freeing he from the constraints of predefined computational tools, and promoting creative freedom in the construction of visual metaphors” (Duro, Machado, Rebelo, 2012). The aim of this paper is to argue this recent evolution in the field of visual identities and the wider area of communication design practices.