The Extreme Right Stole Finland's National Symbols: a New One, Designed in Sweden, is a Statement for Openness

HELSINKI, Finland, December 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Though Finland is just a small Nordic nation, in many measures it is among the top of the world. The Finnish education system is world renown; Finland is one of the world's least corrupted countries, one of the most livable and best places to do business in. In addition to having some of the happiest people in the world it is second only to Iceland in gender equality globally.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141205/720087 )

The problem is that the extreme right wing has hijacked Finland's national symbols. That is why a goodwill initiative called "Finland Redesign" was started by creative agency Bob the Robot, to create a completely new national identity for Finland - in the name of openness, diversity and positivity. In an interesting twist of things, they hired a designer for the new identity from Sweden, the rival neighbours of Finland - something similar to Germany getting a new identity from France, or the US getting a new one from Canada.

One of Sweden's all-time most influential designers Henrik Nygren has been working on the new identity since last April. The ready identity was finally revealed to the public for the first time, this week. "It is interesting in this profession how all projects are in a way the same. Big or small, close or far, they all need the same focus and hard work to be believable, stand out and tell a story. This initiative for Finland was no exception," Nygren comments. The three-part identity is so simple that even a child could understand it. A deconstruction of the Finnish flag, with the element of the heart added in to represent the thing that combines us all, the three parts each tell a different story of diverse Finnish people, as unique individuals, and simultaneously all together.

The initiative gained a lot of positive interest both home and abroad already before the identity was revealed. "It seems that the issue is not so much local, as it is global. What we've noticed is that this strikes a cord everywhere around the world. We've got support messages from Tibet and positive cheers from Japan. This seems to be a global topic right now, because no matter whether you are in Finland or England, extremist groups have hijacked national symbols of pride, made nationalism a dirty word, and basically they've stolen the right to be proud from us all," Karri Knuuttila, a leading member of the Finland Redesign initiative, explains.

The new identity, serving the core idea of openness and positivity, will be made freely available to use for any Finnish person or organization with no cost.

Finland Redesign materials: we.tl/uf04sm7HTd

Photo: Jonathan Ben-Ami

http://www.finlandredesign.fi

YouTube: http://youtu.be/xzxb5vDnxBo

http://www.bobtherobot.fi

For more information contact: 

Noora Harju, Bob the Robot, tel. +358 44 5355787, [email protected]

SOURCE Bob the Robot