Germany

Founding member of the European Union

Germany has the largest population of any EU country. Its territory stretches from the North Sea and the Baltic in the north to the Alps in the south and is traversed by some of Europe's major rivers such as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe.

Government

Germany is a federal republic. The lawmakers at the national level are the Bundestag, whose members are elected every four years by popular vote and the Bundesrat, which consists of 69 representatives of the 16 states (Bundesländer).

After the Second World War, Germany was divided into the democratic West and the Communist East (German Democratic Republic). The Berlin Wall became the symbol of this division. It fell in 1989 and Germany was reunited a year later.

Culture, History & Notables

German is the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Germany is the world's third largest economy, producing automobiles, precision engineering products, electronic and communications equipment, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and much more besides. Its companies have invested heavily in the central and east European countries which joined the EU in 2004.

As birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner, among others, Germany's gift to European classical music is important. In thought and word, Germany’s huge heritage includes the works of Luther, Goethe, Schiller, Nietzsche, Kant, Brecht and Thomas Mann.

Links

German government website

Official German tourist board

Italy

Founding member of the European Union

Italy is mainly mountainous, except for the Po plain in the north, and runs from the Alps to the central Mediterranean Sea. It includes the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, Elba and about 70 other smaller ones. There are two small independent states within peninsular Italy: the Vatican City in Rome, and the Republic of San Marino.

Government

Italy has a two-chamber parliament, consisting of the Senate (Senato della Repubblica) or upper house and the Chamber of Deputies (Camera dei Deputati). Elections take place every five years.

Economy

The country’s main economic sectors are tourism, fashion, engineering, chemicals, motor vehicles and food. Italy's northern regions are per capita amongst the richest in Europe.

History

The centre of the vast Roman Empire which left a huge archaeological, cultural and literary heritage, the Italian peninsula saw the birth of medieval humanism and the Renaissance. This further helped to shape European political thought, philosophy and art via figures like Machiavelli, Dante, Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo.

Notables

The list of famous Italian artists is long and includes Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Tintoretto and Caravaggio. The country has also produced opera composers such as Verdi and Puccini and film-maker Federico Fellini.

Cuisine

Italian cuisine is one of the most refined and varied in Europe, from the piquant flavours of Naples and Calabria to the pesto dishes of Liguria and the cheese and risotto dishes of the Italian Alps.

Links

Italy's Official Tourist board

The Public Adminstration Portal

Prelude

So this is my first post regarding my final year major project. I am stuck for ideas. I want to do something related to food, because I eventually want to publish a book of some sort which includes good photography and illustrations and typography, that makes the most mundane and ordinary visually appealing and exciting. As I am a very keen cook, and would have become a chef (following my fathers footsteps) I would like to do something related to that.

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I have other interests, for example literature, world religions and have a collection of all the major religion's holy books, even going back to the ancient Egyptian Book of Dead. So there is something I could do with that.

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Another major interest would be travelling. My dream is to travel the world and experience all the cultures in the way the locals do, so its not just travelling, it is exploring and backpacking that I enjoy too. So I love to learn about countries and different cultures and ofcourse experience their way of life.

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A project I had given thought about last year was dealing with Heraldry and its use as a modern form of information design/logo/branding. London (including Greater London) is divided up into boroughs, and each has its own distinctive heraldric coat of arms. It was used to represent the borough itself, for example the London Borough of Richmond which you see represented in the coat of arms.


The theme which runs through the design is the ancient and intimate royal connections enjoyed by the borough.
The arms are portrayed in the royal colours of ermine, red and gold. As the very name Richmond is derived from King Henry VII's Earldom of Richmond in Yorkshire. This appears to have been King Henry's favourite badge and his chapel in Westminster Abbey is decorated with crowned portcullises and roses. The border of royal red is emblazoned with another royal badge, the fleur-de-lys.
The swan is derived from the crest of the Borough of Twickenham, but instead of swimming on water as formerly, the swan now stands within the mural crown, the time honoured civic symbol and is differenced from other swan crests by the branch of red roses (another royal allusion) which it holds in its beak. The swan symbolises the River Thames whose amenities were enjoyed by all the former boroughs. The badge is a combination of the rose and portcullis badge of King Henry VII.

(taken from http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/great_london.html)

Heraldry was ofcourse one of the earliest forms of graphic information design, as well as logo design - the intricate language of symbols, colour, shape and form are evident in its success as it has latest so long and was used to such an effect - from battlefields to flags and grand halls of the aristocrats. It may have lasted so long, but it certainly is not used or recognisable or even representative of what it was intended for.

The unfortunate thing is, the boroughs have tried to re-invent themselves, but in my opinion they have completely failed in doing so. For example the 'new' design for the same borough of Richmond, seems to disregard the rich heritage of the past, it also totally ignores the concept of heraldic representation and therefore have eroded a very rich and historical system. It could preserved some elements of it. I don't mean to imply that the design is rubbish, but this particular example is a much better designed than many others.

But let's be honest, heraldry is something of the past and it would take so much more than a design revamp to bring it back to life. We need to modernise it and bring it up to date - so my plan as a major project would be to update it so that it represents the boroughs of London, to create something permeable perhaps something organic enough to evolve as the borough changes over time, therefore taking the natural perspective of design and looking for a new and innovative way to design identities that evolve - one that never wears away into non-existence.