Lookbook: Rebranding Rwanda

George Pericles Creative Think-Tank proposes a visual identity for Rwanda's provinces based on traditional patterns.

Rwanda's famous rolling hills could soon carry a cohesive system of national branding created by George Pericles Creative Think-Tank. Rwandan Heraldry is a speculative and self-initiated project by the small studio, which was founded by French architects and designers Anaïs Legrand and Guillaume Sardin in 2011. They see the identity as a fitting match for the can-do spirit of rebuilding that Rwanda's government is instilling in the country.

Created by the multi-disciplinary studio based between Kigali and Paris, Rwandan Heraldry proposes branding identity for the country’s new regional administrative system.  

The project is driven by the pair’s belief in design’s important social value and their research into traditional Rwandan patterns and the rich reservoir of local tales. 

“Design has the power to bring value, dignity, change to our life,” Sardin says. “We believe in the power of design to craft a better and easier life for all.” He and Legrand hold design and architecture workshops and do pro bono works for local organisations. They have collaborated with  the African Development Bank, Rwandan Government's Office of the Spokesperson and the University of Rwanda.

For us, there’s an amazing opportunity to seize – branding a nation while pushing to the foreground the richness and the beauty of the Rwandan local history, says Sardin.

Look through our gallery of images above to see how the studio went about the rebranding.

 

Another speculative project by George Pericles Creative Think-Tank, New Rugo social housing, was featured in our Africa Is Now exhibition at Design Indaba Expo 2014. Read more about it here.