Are Mauritians that bad at design?
This is a major question that has been running over Twitter, Facebook and some major Mauritian blogs these last days. It has its roots in one thing only: the new Mauritius logo.
Ok, this is not another “this is a crap logo” post. We all know it and accept it. If you need more info on this deceitful and completely biased logo you can head to SJDVDA’s blog or Guillaume’s article to get a general view of the subject. Not that I wouldn’t have liked spilling some dirt also on Acanchi’s horrible work when you think that they spent 18 months to come to such a mess but something more disturbing has caught my attention.
When will Mauritius, in general, let go of that “occidental supremacy” scope? This logo demonstrates that this state of mind still prevails in Mauritius. How? By asking a British company to analyse OUR culture. If that project were to be given to a Mauritian company (admitting that it is a honest and working type one) the internal workings would make that the project would recognize better traits to Mauritius than the Pieter Both Mountain. The mixed culture and the core of the tourism industry would have been the driving forces. A foreign agency would not have a view of the inner workings of our society to reflect the quality of our hospitality.
Second thing. This logo branding has cost 31 million rupees to the state. That would be around 3000 31 (thanks Bruno) rupees per Mauritian, any age, any class. This money comes from the income taxes the government gets from the people and what do we have here? 31 million rupees going to the UK. What about 31 million rupees going to a Mauritian company and re injected in the banking system or the Mauritian economy?
Third thing. School kids in Mauritius have better ideas than the guys at Acanchi. Are Mauritian designers so bad that none has been able to enter the call for projects? Where are those companies? How come no Mauritian body has been able to defend a project that should represent any Mauritian design company’s pride? Are we that bad?
EDIT
Published in L’Express today, the Director of Circus Ads says that the Logo is great. The Logo has been made by a “Mauritian” agency having its roots in France.
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“This logo branding has cost 31 million rupees to the state. That would be around 3000 rupees per Mauritian, any age, any class.”
Nopes, it’s Rs 31
.-= Bruno´s last blog ..C’est l’hôpital qui se moque de la Charité =-.
My bad. Corrected.
Can you do it better? Saying so many shit things is easy! But do something and show that u can be better than the chosen one! Just shouting on blogs like s****d g**s makes no difference! Lets see ur work! Design a logo u think would be “better” and post it here and lets see how many vote for it!
Can’t you make a comment without insulting people? There have already been some alternative proposals. On the other hand your “I dare you” is quite childish since you don’t know to whom you are talking.
It also seems that you are the kind of person who howls before understanding. The point in this article, if you read it, is that there are so many better Mauritian designers here and that so many could have done a better job than having this logo brief sent to some foreign country to define our culture.
Just don’t base your comments by reading a title only.
I have seen lots of advert, the government saying to buy Mauritian products and protect the local people. How dare the GM give the project to foreigners !!!!
The logo has costed 31 million RS. what the hell is that logo.
The twitter logo which is so famous today has not costed that much. SA MEME NU DANS RECESSION.
The designers in Mauritius should wake up and go on the street pour la greve.
True enough, the Twitter logo was just a stock image over the internet as well as the famous fail whale. Today, such a project (logo+branding) is costing a really huge sum of money. The problem the country will be facing in the short run is “what is its return on investment” for sure.
Just for the sake of mentioning it, I find that Sanjay Jagatsingh has put his finger right where it hurts on this issue. Read it over here.
Read in Le Mauricien of 29 October 2009 in Forum:
BRANDING
Hospitable Mauritius
Reading the editorial of Le Mauricien and this paper’s guest columnists François Antelme, Goolam M. Mungly, Sen Ramsamy, BR, B Rand and surely more to come, I feel, like K. C. Li Kwong Wing, that I must express myself on the image building of my motherland.
In case readers wish to have a few other views, please click into young Saajid Vawda’s blog : http//www.sjdvda.com/2009/5-reasons-mauritius-logo-branding-sucks.
Branding aims at giving competitive identity to a location on assumption that others are becoming distinctive and emerging as better alternatives. A brand needs to be short, sweet, selective, preserving and suggestive while reassuring comforts and harmony. A logo, according to graphic designer David Airey, must be describable, memorable, effective without colour, scalable & appropriate. For AMA (American Marketing Ass) a brand is a ” name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group sellers to differentiate them from those of other sellers “.
A country’s brand must have visual aspects that captivates, fascinates and activates a meaningful human purpose in people’s life to create emotional connection. The brander must also seek the semantic aspect of the brand ; the true human purpose at the centre of the brand to create and convey an image that transforms the way a person thinks, feels and behaves – it is at the same time an identity, a showcase of ideas, actions, and experiences that have made real meaningful connection with people ; Mauritius Commercial Bank for example is “the Best”, India is “Incredible” and Malaysia is “Truly Asia”. They show how a brand amalgamates visual aspects with a semantic aspect.
Was I to submit Mauritius, c’est un plaisir as a TP coursework on nation branding when reading for DESS (Diplôme d’Etudes Supérieures Spécialisées) in Carrières de Publicité at Rennes I Univ (France), my tutors in advertising, branding and image building, Jacques Séguéla, guru of Advertising & Branding, Maurice Levy and M. Baudry (the then no. 1 & no. 2 of Publicis-France – no. 1 advertising agency in Europe those days & still one of the great four in Europe today as Publicis Groupe SA), would have thrown my piece to the dustbin and ejected me from the course. Mauritius, c’est un plaisir does not qualify under basic branding rules, being deprived of visual (by imagination) and semantic aspects. It is not suggestive in the direction the country wants it to be and it is not pregnant of meaningful positive references. Further, the use of a sentence with a subject and verb is not recommended. A verb is used only in a protectionist context, e. g., Buy British or Consommons Mauricien. A word, single or compound, generally an adjective, is encouraged to be more forceful ; hence, “Incredible” India.
Among other rules, branding must provide factual identities and must impregnate the thoughts of the beholder on the practicality of the brand. South Africa tried to derogate to the rule but ended up having a somehow loose and meaningless brand South Africa, it’s possible. And, South African qualify it as : ” In South Africa, it’s possible for you to get mugged and robbed “. In fact, in professional circles around the world, the saying is South Africa is Africa after all ; do understand the péjoratif. Seduced by the South African slogan, that means it could be feasible just as it may not be feasible, some asinine copycats in Mauritius have apparently directed the branding team on a cut and paste mission, to also copycat the concept of the Hollywood and Bollywood writings on hillsides ; hence, Mauritius, c’est un plaisir with the Pieter Both mountain as relics in background ; a newly discovered icon (un con), the Pieter Both, a Dutch dude, a failure as seafarer who never set foot on the island. What a naufrage !
A literal translation of C’est un plaisir in English is It’s a pleasure rather than with pleasure. When you are told, ” Je vous remercie ” automatically your reply is : ” C’est un plaisir ” relating to ” Don’t mention it ” in English. But with connotations, “C’est un plaisir” leads to grotesque clichés that cannot be named with due respect to readers. “C’est un plaisir” also connotes to “c’est un plaisir … le plaisir du sexe” – read here selling Mauritius as a sex destination. The “M” in the logo in fact depicts a woman in a popular love-making position, one of the leading Kamasutra’s most favourite positions.
I refrain from commenting others’ references to the brand as cropping up on the internet. Everywhere, however, the comments are oiling on, ” Maurice, c’est un plaisir de se faire arnaquer ” or “… le plaisir de se faire attoucher … le plaisir de se faire violer … ” or …, mais censurons !
Hospitality
The BOI is investing energy and public funds to source investment in the Healthcare and Hospitality sectors. IRS, RES, Medical Tourism, etc, are investment priority targets of Government. The branding, however, does not go in that direction nor does it convey the safe investment haven message. Still, Mauritius is known since time immemorial as Paradise Island and also for its hospitality. Even Mary Pierce, French tennis player present at the launching ceremony at La Citadelle, said that Mauritius is home second to none for its hospitality.
Yes, hospitable Mauritius ! Oxford Dictionary explains “hospitable” as an adjective that means “giving, disposed to give welcome & entertainment to strangers or guests.” The Larousse Dictionnaire du Français Contemporain views “hospitalier” the literal translation of “hospitable” into French as ” qui accueille avec libéralité et bonne grâce les hôtes, les invités, les étrangers “.
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com) gives three interpretations to the adjective hospitable, namely,
a. given to generous and cordial reception of guests ;
b. promising or suggesting generous and cordial welcome ; and,
c. offering pleasant or sustaining environment (e. g., hospitable to FDI).
The online Dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hospitable) relates the adjective hospitable as :
1. receiving or treating guests or strangers warmly and generously (e.g., a hospitable family or a hospitable nation) ;
2. characterized by betokening warmth and generosity towards guests or strangers (e.g., a smile) ; and,
3. favourably receptive and open (e.g., hospitable to new ideas ; hospitable to foreign workers & to foreign investors ; hospitable to fauna and flora, …).
Customer care is today the most important value added component to business growth. It is the customer service that differentiates a successful business to competition. It sets the business apart from others with an aura of human touch that is divine to none, hence the importance of feeling welcomed and the comfort of proverbial hospitality.
I don’t think that I need to discourse any longer on the branding of Mauritius. Nor would I dare comment the bill of US $ 1 million as I am not in the known of the breakdown of expenses involved. But I tender, free of charge, to my motherland a more meaningful and sustained brand : Hospitable Mauritius ; a brand that irrigates the country’s positive attributes ; a brand that is a true reflection of the warm, welcoming cosmopolitan Mauritius ; a brand that reassures investors ; a brand that shows an emancipated Mauritius from being a Dodoland or Cookoo’s land of the Dutch settlement to an island of preservation of ethnic specificities, religions, flora, fauna and, above all, preservation of rights of individuals, rights to invest and to draw benefits, and rights of religious belief ; and finally a brand that is not cut and paste.
Trusting a contributor to Le Mauricien’s Forum page, one concludes that there has been plagiat with Mauritius, c’est un plaisir. Someone somewhere has violated Intellectual Property Rights regulations.
God’s lucks to thee Motherland of ours.
Anand Dulloo
PS : In case Hospitable Mauritius requires a French version, the term Accueillante île Maurice could be envisaged
In my opinion, the logo tries to send out too many messages, and I think less would be better. I am confused as to how it is supposed to make me feel about Mauritius. The mountain would be enough as one strong representation of the island. The use of four colours of the national flag is a nice idea, why add a fifth colour to represent the sea (or sky, or whatever)?? Why use so many forms?
What’s the deal with the superscript dot above the t instead of the i. Seems like an attempt to represent something, a clear failure since it’s not obvious. Wrong use of the Gestalt principle of similarity in my opinion. There are 3 dots in the logo which do not appear to be part of a cohesive whole. Actually, nothing in the logo appears to be part of a cohesive whole and I cannot understand the feeling it evokes. I wonder if they tested it with people before finalising.
The typography really sucks as well.
Why the hell does it combine English and French? This is ridiculous.
In all, this logo does not represent Mauritius accurately, in my opinion. They should have at least got a thousand opinions, not from designers but from mauritians and foreigners as well, before finalising it.
However, it’s easier to criticise something that exists than to create something from nothing. Would I do something better? Maybe yes or maybe not. Well, I guess I would.