Anniversary of the Finnish parliament

The 100th anniversary of the Parliament of Finland lasted from spring 2006 to autumn 2007. On 1 June 2006 it was be a hundred years since the Finnish estates adopted the new Parliament Act and the Election Act. On 23 May 2007 it was a hundred years since the first plenary session of the unicameral parliament. The theme of the anniversary was "Right to vote - trust in law. A hundred years of democracy in Finland."

Anssi from Werklig was responsible for creating the identity for anniversary.

Identity elements

The anniversary identity consisted of emblem and logo(s) and specially picked colours. Typography and other visual elements were based on Parliament's main visual guidelines (that were also designed by Anssi).

Anniversary emblem

Anniversary emblem was loosely based on the theme ("Right to vote - trust in law")- it is possible to see "§" symbol set sideways, surrounding numbers "1","0" and "0".

The form of the logo was also influenced by Parliament House's architectural details. Parliament House (Eduskuntatalo in Finnish) was designed by Johan Sigfrid Sirén. It was built between years 1926–1931 and it is a combination of Neoclassicism and early twentieth century modernism styles. The Anniversary emblem pays a homage to those styles by having a "meander" form clearly visible in it.

"Meanders are common decorative elements in Greek art and Roman art. They appear on many friezes and at the top of some porticos. The design is common in present-day architecture as a neoclassical element." (source: Wikipedia)

The symbol colour of Parliament (deep blue, Pantone 540) was combined with platinum colour to create special look-and-feel for the anniversary event.

Identity guidelines can be downloaded (pdf) from Parliament's website.

Applications

Brochures and other marketing material were created. Special effects (such as hot foil, embossing, embroidery, varnishing and metal inks) were used extensively in materials. Anniversary coffee packaging, pens, canvas folders were designed, to name a few. Anniversary emblem was also printed in stamps (stamp design by Timo Berry from BOTH).

Anniversary brochure (metal ink, spot varnish).

 

Anniversary lecture folders, including notebooks and pens. Folders are coated with canvas and equipped with especial pen and notebook holders. Pens have anniversary emblem engraved in them. 

 

Anniversary coffee and tea packaging.

 

Stamp with anniversary emblem (stamp design by Timo Berry).

Eduskunta (in Finnish), or the Riksdag (in Swedish), is the Parliament of Finland. The Parliament of Finland is an unicameral parliament with 200 members, who meet in Parliament House (Eduskuntatalo; Riksdagshuset) in Helsinki.

The Parliament of Finland went through a discreet visual facelift during years 2004-2007 - Anssi from Werklig was responsible for the design.

A complete visual identity

A number of visual tools were created for the client. The main tool was a light visual identity (defining colours and typography to be used). All promotional material was then produced following the new guidelines. This included a set of brochures (approximately 20-30 different brochures, ranging from 3 to seven language versions, including also such languages as Sámi and Russian), quickscreens, information flyers, posters, publication covers, PPT and layout templates - to name a few.

Brochure templates can be seen in use at the Visitor's Centre whichoperates in the Little Parliament, next to Parliament main building.

Sample of brochure templates designed for the Parliament. Simple and easy to use and update.

Promotional items - such as information brochures (cover above) - were designed also for The Library of Parliament.

More dynamic photos were also needed for the Parliament, so Parliament's photo library was re-built during the facelift, too. Old photos were assembled into one database and streamlined. New photos were taken by such photographers as Joanna Moorhouse (picture above, © Parliament).

Parliament Symbol gets a facelift

One of the most demanding tasks was to re-design Parliament's symbol - a house pictogram drawn by architect Ola Laiho in the 80's. The symbol had been used for years but it had some weaknesses that needed to be fixed. However, at the same time it was crucial to keep the symbol visually "unchanged". The solution was succesful and it increased symbol's usability, visibility and recognisability.

Comparison of the original (on left) and redrawn symbol (on right).

Symbol/logo applications, horizontal versions.

Symbol/logo applications, vertically aligned versions.