Recently the city government completed a major project that involved a massive amount of coordination: adopting an official coat-of-arms for each of the 48 barrios in Buenos Aires. Originating from a 1989 decree, a local committee was responsible for the selection of each design based on the following criteria: neighborhood history, ethnic groups, urban planning & prominent activities.

While I think the idea of adopting a symbol to represent each neighborhood is a fantastic idea, the execution failed miserably. For one thing, dealing with 48 barrios is an administrative nightmare & probably why this project took 22 years to finish. That’s another point in favor of dividing the city into 15 comunas with more or less equal population distribution. Naturally people feel an attachment to the barrio where they live & saying “I live in Commune 10″ sounds horrible compared to “vivo en Versalles,” but in some ways the individual coat-of-arms seems like a step backward.

However the most horrible part is that the designs are so wildly disparate. Some look professionally done while others look like they were drawn by a 5-year old. Seriously. This is supposed to be official & permanent, right? Doesn’t it make sense to set a few design requirements for everyone to follow?

I’m a big fan of vector art, & I remember when all the autonomous communities & government agencies in Spain adopted vector designs. You could argue that it appears a bit commercial–it does–but it helped unify the national image. Vectors can be resized without losing quality, so these designs are placed everywhere from letterheads to flags to road signs. Seemed like a step in the right direction & I think Buenos Aires should have followed their example.

On the other hand, if something more artistic is preferred then why not hire one artist to draw all 48 shields? Ask local neighborhood organizations to pool ideas, come up with symbols that make their barrio unique from all others, then submit the final choices to a single artist. That way, all 48 would have a cohesive, professional look.

One other idea would be to adopt a particular shield shape for each comuna, then have the interior design different for each barrio. Obviously there are many options… but none were taken.

Then again, the idea of 48 different designs isn’t much of a surprise when the city itself can’t seem to settle for a brand. Over several decades, all official correspondence used the old, hand-drawn coat-of-arms. Although a few variations existed, the general idea was two different ships representing the two separate foundations of the city (1536 & 1580), an anchor & a dove:

But when Alfonsín obtained the separation of Buenos Aires from the national government as part of the Pacto de Olivos, almost every administration has changed the city’s logo & often even the color scheme. Insanity. The city will continue to exist–hopefully–regardless of anyone temporarily in charge. There is a need for continuity. And think about the expense of having to redesign each & every sign, letterhead, etc. in the city every four or eight years. Below are examples from the times of Ibarra (2000-06, orange/black), Telerman (2006-07, multicolor) & Macri (2007-present, yellow/black). Note that Macri’s logo conveys absolutely nothing about the city, looking like either prison bars or a barcode. Embarrassing.

Not to sound like PR rep, but it’s true that effective branding helps establish easy visual recognition & identity… something missing in Buenos Aires. There was a lot of commotion when CFK unveiled the national logo in 2008, mainly because most people did not like the design. But the idea was solid. The logo below appears everywhere these days whether we like it or not. Being the shrewd businessman, Macri should take note & establish a permanent, meaningful city brand.

From: Viajar exhibit (Sociedade Propaganda de Portugal), Oct 2010 centennial celebrations, Lisboa

There may not be much anyone can do about the slow pace of subway construction in Buenos Aires, but how we visualize the network can be easily improved. The firm Diseño Shakespear came up with the subte map used for most of the 00′s. With a black background, it was like some early-80′s vision of BsAs… a bit scary & not particularly useful:

As far as subways go, the London map was the beginning of an era because it’s beautiful and functional. Thank you, Harry Beck. Eddie Jabbour redesigned the NYC subway map in his free time & came up with some brilliant results. Madrid’s subway is growing to match the flight to the suburbs… I can hardly believe it’s the same system I took on my first trip there in 1998. The old map was almost impossible to read quickly, so a new design was adopted in 2007. If Buenos Aires wants to keep company with these other world-class cities, its subway map should be up to the challenge.

I decided to use the Madrid map as a base for a different way to look at the BA subte system:

First of all, I’m not a graphic designer & I focused more on the system than the overall look of the map. So this is only a beginning. Also, I changed the names of a lot of stations… hey, it’s my map :)

I began by overlaying the real routes over a city map. Then I cut curves as much as I could. The red B Line could be simplified between Angel Gallardo & Los Incas. Ditto for the green D Line between Pueyrredón & Tribunales. But I believe showing those curves helps orient to the street plan.

I also wanted to show how the city is contained by two rivers. The length of each line is clearly visible as well as the relationships between them. Light grey street names along certain routes like Eddie Jabbour did for NYC would be a good improvement for a future version.

The following changes are based on politics rather than graphic design…

Interconnecting stations share the same name. It’s not a difficult concept. Look where I labeled 3 stations as “Microcentro.” The current system calls them by different names (Catedral – Perú – Bolívar) although they are all connected by an underground walkway. An outdated law allows train stations to be named the same. Time to change that.

No current station refers to the Obelisk. How can that be? Of the 3 connected stations at that spot (Carlos Pellegrini – Diagonal Norte – Avenida 9 de Julio), you’d never know you were underneath one of the most recognized symbols of Buenos Aires. Call it Obelisco & be done with it.

I’ve changed the names of a few more things, but you get the point. Two stations are named “Moreno” & “José M. Moreno.” Very different people but too similarly named. Changing the names of stations is easy to do, & careful observers can see it’s been done before… Malabia used to be called “Canning.” Look at the tiles… squint if you have to:

Fortunately since the first appearance of this post, the subway map has been improved & Diseño Shakespear made it more user-friendly:

But while I appreciate the look of the new signage installed in 2006-07, the network as a whole needs to be considered… past & future stations alike. In the meantime, I’ll continue to read enelsubte.com & viajar como ganado. Love that expression.

From: Juan Pablo Ratto’s DGPC website (file size 5 Mb)

Find your favorite destination at Vintage Ad Browser.

Part of the permanent collection of the Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao. Displayed during the excellent 2009 exhibit Novecentismo y Vanguardia (1910-1936). More posters here.

Recommended reading by Brendan, Brand Avenue suggests that cities—even entire nations—have color schemes. It makes sense. One of the things I”ve always loved about Lisboa is its light… a beautiful shade of yellow with just a hint of orange. The Portuguese also have an affinity for pastel tones, painting even public buildings in what I would call Easter colors.

Doing a quick run through some of my Lisboa pix, I came up with the following color palette for that city. It was easy enough… just open Photoshop, copy certain colors, then put them all together. Included for Lisboa are terracotta rooftops, shades of stone from important monuments, the Tejo River, lots of blues from tilework panels & the retro brownish-red of my favorite cherry liqueur, ginjinha.

Given that earth tones in general are some of my favorite colors, no wonder I like Lisboa so much. Just in case you need a little more color in your life, visit the Colour Lovers blog. Color in our environment is a lot more important than we normally think.

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The development of Parque Mayer in Lisboa runs under the guidance of Frank Gehry, but local firms have been invited to participate in many aspects. Ateliermob submitted a project using my Lisboa color palette as part of their design idea. Pretty amazing.

The complete 5-page proposal can be viewed on Issuu… look on the last two pages for my mention. How cool is that? They came in 7th place, but to think that I might have contributed something to one of my favorite cities is wonderful enough.