This country just rebranded its entire government for the first time ever
Plus: The U.S. Postal Service is reissuing the first stamp and opening its archives for the public to vote
This country just rebranded its entire government for the first time ever
For the first time in the history of the Czech Republic, the state now has a unified brand.
The Czech government announced this month that it would begin using a new, unified visual system across its 31 central government bodies. Previously, every agency had its own logo and colors, which its ministry of foreign affairs says reduced the credibility of the state and increased costs and confusion. The rebrand puts that to an end, and as the world’s newest national visual brand, the official Czech state identity makes the case for the value of thoughtful, intentional graphic design for governments today.
The new Czech brand was designed by Najbrt Studio, a design agency based just outside Prague that designed the visual identity for the country’s ministry of foreign affairs in 2011. Their identity is based on a state emblem of a double-tailed lion, and it uses the custom typeface Czechia Sans and a color palette from the country’s red, white, and blue tricolor. The Czech foreign affairs ministry said the cost of preparing the brand proposal, which included a new logo and design system for printed and electronic materials, cost three million koruna, or about $144,000 in U.S. dollars.
The ministry’s announcement about the rebrand specifically cited unified branding for developed, democratic countries like the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany, and said the new brand would align the country with the standards of Western Europe and strengthen the Czech Republic’s visibility and credibility on the world stage.
“Imagine that a foreign partner is communicating with five Czech institutions, each of which has a different logo,” Czech Republic Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský said in a statement. “The result is confusion and doubt. In modern diplomacy and foreign marketing, a credible visual identity is an essential part of state communication.”
Najbrt Studio avoided debates that have plagued civic rebrand rollouts from Portugal to Westchester County by sticking to tradition and not modernizing or messing too much with widely understood symbols. The agency describes its work for the foreign affairs ministry as having a “conservative visual style,” and “conservative” here isn’t necessarily a political attribute, but one of aesthetics. Like designing for a bank or law firm, it’s about design that visually communicates steadiness, continuity, tradition, and authority, and that same style was applied to their work for the government at large now too.
Lipavský, the foreign minister, said the new system will reduce costs and increase “credibility at home and abroad.” Though the new Czech Republic visual identity is pretty on paper, its true test will be whether or not it can accomplish those goals. By adopting the new identity, the Czech government is betting that graphic design can help them better deliver for their citizens by saving taxpayer money and increasing clarity, trust, and authority.
Previously in Yello:
The U.S. Postal Service is reissuing the first stamp and opening its archives for the public to vote
