New logo for RTI launched in India

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.

Ajit Ninan on RTI, the new logo and other things

Launched in October 2005, the RTI Act in India is finally catching up.

The public-at-large is becoming more aware about the advantages this act brings, making the decisions of the government more transparent and accessible (of course there are also those who often misuse the provisions of this Act and file an RTI application on almost everything under the Indian sun – well it takes all kinds of fingers to make a hand). This of course leads to a greater accountability in the actions of the babus.

This year, during the RTI awareness week (5th-12th October 2010), the Government of India is finally launching a visual face of the RTI Act. The new logo is going to be implemented, so that people are able to relate visually to entire provision.

the cartoon by Ajit Ninan, one of my favourite artists and cartoonist (since the days I used to wait for his Moochwala comic strip in the Target magazine)  has his own witty take on the RTI.

More on the final logo of RTI and its launch soon.

/cheers

The Indian Rupee symbol and the logo for RTI

While there is  a good amount of debate going on the final selection of the rupee symbol. If you may recall an open public competition was announced way back in February 2009 by the Ministry of Finance. The shortlisted entries flashed in the media in anticipation of the results being announced by the MoF, happened to be an internal exercise of the design team of Economic Times. Read more about this here. The text clearly indicates that these were done soon after the competition was announced.

There also seems to be an RTI application filed against the entire process and the manner in which it was conducted. It raises serious doubts about the intentions of the governemnt while dealing with such a project of not just national importance, but also international significance. There is also a website on this, which you can see here.

Coming to RTI, you must be aware that I was working on design a logo for the Right to Information on behalf of NID. Well, I had worked on several options in the second round of iterations and presented to the Ministry. Here is a sneak preview. Do leave your feedback, comments and suggestions.

(Work in Progress) RTI logo featured in local media

Just a quick update.

Ahmedabad Mirror 10.05.2010. // by Shraddha Singh

Thanks to Shraddha for covering this story.

you can read the online version here

Logo for Right to Information: alternative ideas

I have been wanting to share these for quite sometime now, especially since we made the presentation to the honorable Minister, in early april.

Thanks are due to each one of you who took out time to give feedback to the initial work which was shared on this blog earlier.

Four ideas were presented to the Government of India –

the hand raised to ask a question, the answers leading to empowerment

empowered hand holding the piece of information. two way process of sharing the information

open file so typical of government, information being shared between the govt. and citizens

sharing of information portraying the two key stakeholders, dispelling darkness through information

Well, it was a good meeting, and for obvious reasons, the government representatives (both the executives and the people’s representatives) decided to avoid any imagery dealing with ‘hands’ or ‘fists’. There were two ideas, which were shortlisted to be worked upon furhter.

As a designer, I was dealing with this issue of designing symbols/logos for the masses, where due to linguistic and literacy aspects, one can not take the path of designing a logotype.

While designing for the urban, english reading audience, several options open up where one can use typography and create wordmarks. On the other hand, when we look at developing logo for the industry, often concrete visuals of the end product are easily incorporated to establish the connection. Here I was dealing with a very complex matrix of messages to be achieved – that of the Act itself, the semiotics and simplicity of the intended image. Simplicity and directness, not only in terms of a visual composition (which is to be read) but also in terms of reproduction at the basic grass root level (here I mean, it should be so uncomplicated that a village painter could replicate it on the wall with least amount of distortion).

To tell a long story in short, we are back to the drawing board, exploring metaphors of ‘give and take’ and the ‘open lock’.

more on that soon.

concepts of logo for RTI, Govt. of India

Thanks for visiting.

I am working on an assignment to design the logo for RTI (Right to Information) for the Department of Personnel and Training, GoI. The idea is to use this symbol on all awareness material and also outside the offices of PIOs across the country. This shall help create a visual awareness and connect with the masses.

I am sharing a few of the selected options I have created, please give your comments/opinion/preferences, so that I can further detail out the form.
The brief which I got from the ministry was rather clear – the symbol should reflect ‘transactions’, ‘transperancy’ and ’empowerment’, besides being easy to reproduce such that even a painter in the village can paint it on the Panchayat office walls.
So, here they are – thanks

concept 1. the question mark is a universally accepted icon for seeking answers. I have integrated the handform in it to portray the people involved in seeking and providing answers/information, under RTI.

 

concept 2A. The act of filing an RTI application on a plain sheet of paper is symbolised in this logo. The two black triangles on the background signify the two parties between which this transaction takes place.

 

Concept 3. This one symbolises an open book and the rising sun, empowering the citizens of our country. There are 12 strokes in the rising sun, symbolising that RTI is open and functional throughout the 12 months of the year unlike other wings of the govt. (such as the parliament and the judiciary which have vacations)

 

Concept 4. this one is based on the concept of duality - there is a transaction which is transparent (the black and white rectangles) - the exclaimation mark stands for the response when the information is provided - 'oh! I see, this is how it is...!' the "i" also stands for the human form.

 

Concept 5. This is a very simple logo inspired by millions of children raising their hands across schools in India, 'Excuse me Sir! I have a question' the fist stands for empowerment enclosed in the ring of good governance.

 

Concept 6. The government official is overlooking the open file ( the red flaps file symbolic of Government records) and sharing information with the citizens represented by the three circles on the top.

 

Please indicate your preference in the comments. Suggestions and feedback is most welcome.

Thanks once again.