finally, in India, the Right to Information has a new face.
The new logo of the Right to Information was launched on Thursday, 28th October 2010, By Shri Prithviraj Chavan, Honourable Minister of State, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions.
the new logo for the Right to Information
Along with the new logo, an information portal was also launched
The design and layout of the web portal is nothing great to talk about, but the intentions behind this is worth commendation. How many governments have such seminal acts like the RTI Act 2005, which allows the general public to question them, their processes and their decisions. This of course increases the accountability on the part of the government office bearers and participation from the citizens leading to good governance. It is a beginning, even though full of speed breakers.
The official announcement can even be seen on the facebook page of the Honourable PM, Dr. Manmohan Singh, here.
The following day, advertisements were published in all leading newspapers in different languages across the country.
here are a few previews I could get locally – in The Indian Express (English),
the half page advertisement in The Indian Express
in Sandesh (one of the largest Gujarati dailies)
the ad in Gujarati daily, Sandesh; which is broader than the english dailies
and also in Rajasthan Patrika (Hindi, the Ahmedabad edition).
the single colour half page ad in Rajasthan Patrika
The basic concept of the ad was provided by us, but the final designs and artworks were done by DAVP (Department of Audio Visual Publicity). There is no saying that the people out there definitely need some inputs in typography. Look at the sentence breaks in the Hindi version – the first column. Perhaps they also need a good proof reader. note the spelling mistake in the web url in the gujarati version.
It is sort of funny that people do not read what they are supposed to – The Department of Personnel and training had published over a thousand copies of the guidelines to be circulated to the various giovernment departments. I think the concept of graphic design will take some time to catch up, but it will surely.
For the pdf file of the guidelines in English, please click here.
it took me over 8 months from the first meeting with the Minister (kick starting the project) to the final launch. A glimpse of the alternative concepts of the logo presented to the Ministry can also be seen here.
It is an important day for the Right to Information movement in our country and design for India. and I feel proud to be a part of this movement. Looking forward for your valuable comments and feedback.
