Designing Symbols. The Logos of The Spanish Autonomous Communities (1977-1991)

Javier Gimeno Martinez is the writer of the article of Designing Symbols. The Logos of The Spanish Autonomous Communities (1977-1991). He is coordinator and lecturer Design Cultures at the VU University Amsterdam. He holds a MA-Degree in Industrial Design from the Universidad Cardenal Herrera, Valencia.His research interests encompass design and fashion related with consumption, gender and national identity.

Spain originally inhabited by Celts, Iberians, and Basques, became a part of Roman Empire in 206 BC.  Roman Catholicism was established as the official state religion and most Jews (1492) and Muslims (1502) were expelled. The 16th century was Spain’s “Golden Age,” a period when Spain rapidly became Europe’s most powerful country, with an empire that spanned the world.

Modern Spain is made up of 17 new autonomous regions. These new regions elect to create their own identity signs in order to manifest their presence among voters. Logo is chosen by governments to represent themselves as institutions. Logo is a symbol, sign, or emblem. It is designed for easy recognition of an organization. It is also act as a tool to build an identity for the organization and as a trademark for the company or brand.

The logos will be analysed as elements of what Michael Billig has called “banal nationalism”. This article studies the logos of Spanish Autonomous Communities as symbolic capital produced by governments and destined for the Spanish voters. There is difference between coats of arm and logos. Coats of arm are elements based on heraldic rules and described with a heraldic codes. Also used to display a calligraphic approach. Meanwhile, logos represent governments as institutions and are not necessarily subordinated to heraldic rules. Mainly, the logos are abstract. However, the logo tends to retain the coats of arm as a key feature.

During period 1977-1991, democracies were decided upon. The search of identity signs, derived from political devolution, was intertwined with the enthusiastic adoption of international features, derived from entrance into the E.U (Graham and Labanyi 311-406).  Spanish Autonomous Communities want to escape from an overarching Spanish identity by creating a distinct identity, different from the other Spanish regions with provides them with a unique profile in the wider landscape of Europe.

The writer’s purpose is to relate the historical political issues in Spain with the outcome of the logos design. Javier managed his text very well balanced by introducing the topic and supports it with several facts and history background. He also managed the interest of the readers by putting images of the logos and the comparison in the text between the old logos and the new one. These images of the logos will ease the readers to identify the differences of the old and new logos. He also explains the details about the changes of the old logos in the caption. Overall, his article is full of information about the Spanish logos and the history behind it that had been arranged nicely, worth the time to read and outstanding articles, also he did a great job explaining about the function of the logos and graphic needed for the purpose of knowledge.