E as in education. W as in word.
07.10.2014
The visual identity designed by the students opens Finland and ‘Finnishness’ up on the basis of the alphabet. The venue for this is the world’s most important event in the field of books and literature – the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Jinhee Kim, Anssi Kokkonen and Tommi Leskinen, who are studying for their master’s degree in graphic design, make up the working group that designed the visual identity concerned for Finland, the theme country of the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Two words were provided as the basis for the design: Finnland and Cool. They made up the official slogan for Finland’s theme country project.
In their work, the students wanted to give attention to the alphabet – the building blocks on which literature itself is built.
‘The boys did a huge job in briefing me on the Finnish identity via the alphabet. For example, I didn’t understand what “sisu” [fortitude] meant. Or what in the world “perkele” [the Devil] referred to!’ Jinhee Kim from Korea relates.
Harnessing a huge space
Kim, Kokkonen and Leskinen wanted to create, in addition to a logo, a visual entity that would rise to the occasion at the world’s largest book fair.
‘In Frankfurt’s seventh exhibition hall, there's an incredible amount of various visual communication. Competitive messages are in abundance, and the sheer size of the space had to be taken into account during the design work.’
The students worked hard, playing with the letters of the alphabet while avoiding the use of pictures. They conceptualized what Finland could tell others with just one letter – in Finnish, German, Swedish, English or Sámi. B could be blomma, blondi, bibliotek or even blue.
‘We started off from something very small in the design work – from a two-word slogan – and then we built a wide concept round it.’
The final result was a suggestion that the customer, literature export organization FILI – Finnish Literature Exchange, selected for its use.
Material packages, business cards, bookmarks, labels, pamphlets and campaign posters grew from this visual identity. Graphic guidelines, logo files and additional colours were required.
An animation was also produced on the basis of the ABCs in which the letters varied and the image of Finland is built on the accompaniment of the tango as well as the music of the kantele, water is throw on the sauna rocks to produce steam, and there is jubilation over tuition charge-free higher education.
The visual identity entity will now be assessed by the exhibition audience at Finland’s theme pavilion, stand 5.0 A79.
Text: Tiiu Pohjolainen