Government Branding
Some people also refer to government branding as ‘country branding’. Nevertheless, we most never call it corporate branding because it would be a mistake. Since the complexity of the body of work and design of a public institution, it’s a category on its own.
My approach working with large and complex bureaucratic institutions is by not regarding them as industry or business marketing. I believe government branding is a particular category that must be addressed with high level of ethics and socially consciousness, to truly foster the construction of individual representation and at the same time social identity.
In the last ten years, I have worked as communications consultant for federal and state governments in Latin America. More particularly in Mexico, I have designed the visual identities and brand architecture for Hidalgo State Government, public universities, and public hospitals just to mention a few.
Project Specs:
Visual Identity, Brand Architecture, Social Media Campaigns, Media Strategy, Film Production, and Editorial Design.
My Role: Art Direction, Brand Management, Film Production, Video Direction, and finally as Communications Officer.
Brand Architecture
Brand Rational
The insight for the symbol is based on the idea of collaboration; between government and the people. The brand slogan is “Hidalgo crece, contigo” (Together Hidalgo rises). After, speaking with the transition team for the new government, we distil three ideas, which became most iconic and visual for us to move forward. The first one is ‘inclusion’ of the many voices through dialogue. The second was the ‘dynamic attitude’ that the team wanted to spread across all states offices and with the private sector. And finally but not least, the string that tights citizens together, the pride of being from Hidalgo.
The final result was the look alike venn diagram, with the negative subtraction of the letter ‘H’. The bright green and red colors are part of the Mexican flag and a with a huge meaning within the collective consciousness. After conducting some testing with audiences we noticed that it produced an optimist feeling, and some people believed to see on the symbol “two opposite arrows”, other people said during the A/B testing with the colors, that prefered the red color on the left than on the right, as opposed of the color order on the Mexican flag.
The inclusion of the word-mark ‘Hidalgo’ was proposed on a dark blue color because it added a different mood and personality. In fact no other administration had used other colors besides red, green and black in the past. The word-mark and the symbol are also dynamic, sometime it appears on the bottom and on the right side of the symbol. The slogan is suggested to be used right below the word-mark, and only for promotional purposes. However, this is something that can not controlled within an organization of 100 thousand people working.
Brand Guidelines
Creating the brand guidelines for such large organizations it’s an ongoing process that takes from four to six months or even a year. The numerous amount of applications where the brand has live goes from stationary, building signage, wayfinding signage, powerpoint templates and digital resources, to vehicles, uniforms, road signs, concrete and metal structures just to mention a few. The brand also has to live on a large ecosystem of brands and signs including the Federal Government. The advertising and communication guidelines are more open, and as designer I think of the brand a sustainable entity. Whether is two or three dimensions, the message should stand strong with losing meaning.
