New national government logo rejected

Communication design

The Dutch national government's new logo, which cost 60,000 euros, has been rejected by the state heraldry office.

By Editor Design.nl / 03-03-2008

The Dutch national government's new logo, which cost 60,000 euros, has been rejected by the state heraldry office.

The logo, which is to become the house style for all government organisations, will now be modified.

The incident is not the first to cause an upset during the development of the new logo. In an earlier case, it emerged that the designers had submitted a logo that had already been developed for the ministry of general affairs.

'There wouldn't have been a problem if a new government logo had been chosen. But the choice was for a logo that resembled the official state coat of arms, the use of which must satisfy a number of conditions' said E. Wolleswinkel, secretary of the heraldry office. The state coat of arms, like the flag and the national anthem, is a national symbol. Use of national symbols is subject to strict rules.

A number of the required elements in the coat of arms were left out in Studio Dumbar's national government logo. The lion is not wearing a crown, and the obligatory golden blocks are also missing. The blocks are a reference to the House of Nassau, and therefore to the royal family.

'Without the blocks, it's really the coat of arms of the Republic of the United Netherlands' Wolleswinkel says.

Gerard van der Wulp, director of the government information office, says that the possibility that adjustments to the logo might be necessary was taken into account during the development of the logo. 'The premier presented a concept. We asked for advice from the heraldry office, just to be sure that the design was historically accurate.' He added that the lion will be given a crown, longer claws and a more masculine style. This will be achieved by increasing the size of his mane, but not by the addition of a male sex
organ, a feature often seen in depictions of the national coat of arms.

The government hopes to save five million euros in design costs for a variety of national governmental organisations by introducing the new logo.

(© Algemeen Dagblad)