American in Spain

How Not To Choose A Logo

June 15, 2007

Last time I was in Mondragon, I was struck by a particular logo that was spray painted onto many walls. It combines two really cool symbols. Unfortunately, the two symbols carry just a tiny bit of historical significance.

Both symbols can be made by drawing three lines on a sheet of paper, rotating the paper, and drawing the same three lines. Because both symbols hold a natural symmetric beauty that appeals to humans, they have already been chosen to represent movements and ideas in history.

Know what two symbols I'm talking about yet? Why, it's the Star of David and the Swastika, of course!

Can you think of two symbols more historically opposed to one another? Basque Graffiti

I'm quite glad not to live in the Basque Country, because the politics there is a little bit heated, to put it mildly. This is the symbol for the Basque Nationalist Action, one of several political parties that contain the words "Basque" and "Nationalist". Since the rest of the world cares so little about Basque politics (it's all they talk about on the news in Spain), the English Wikipedia page on them is pretty meager.

I'm not going to say any more about the party, because there is enough information on this blog to find me, and I'm a coward.