The National Day Preparation Committee on Tuesday unveiled the official logo for this year’s Double Ten National Day. The logo designs are getting worse with each passing year, and “ugly” is the only word that comes to mind.
Let us begin with the colors. Deputy Minister of the Interior Wu Tang-an (吳堂安), secretary-general of the committee, said the subdued “Morandi color palette” was chosen for its calm tone to convey “steadiness and maturity.” In reality, it is more of a pale, grayish blue. Not only is it miles away from the colors of the national flag, it is also depressing. Regarding the shade of red chosen, it is darker than brick red and devoid of any sense of joy. The overlapping blue and red on the logo’s right side clash, while the blue strokes on the left meet without any contrast. It is clearly a sloppy and unprofessional design.
Wu said that the logo features two Chinese characters for 10 (十), rendered with a brush-stroke texture to display creativity and resemble a flag fluttering in the wind, full of vibrant energy like Taiwanese and highlighting Taiwan’s “diversity, freedom and confidence.”
However, the design is reminiscent of the children’s tale The Emperor’s New Clothes — self-congratulatory, when it is actually chaotic and unstructured, like a halfhearted scribble.
Throughout my work in international trade, which includes selling products such as suitcases and golf bags, I have observed and learned from the various tastes of foreign designers, and the flare they put into color and form. The committee, by contrast, seems to believe that simply deviating from traditional rigid and square-shaped characters qualifies as creative design. Misguided imitations are doomed to backfire — not only does the design fail to impress, but it also erases the symbolic imagery of the blue sky, white sun and red earth depicted on the national flag as well as the significance of “Double Ten.”
This year’s Double Ten National Day logo is akin to putting the concept of “pedestrian hell” on full display. It resembles the skid marks left at intersections when scooters weave between cars — not fresh ones, but dried-up traces of tires completely lacking any artistic beauty.
Fang Fu-chuan is an international trader.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
Taiwanese pragmatism has long been praised when it comes to addressing Chinese attempts to erase Taiwan from the international stage. “Taipei” and the even more inaccurate and degrading “Chinese Taipei,” imposed titles required to participate in international events, are loathed by Taiwanese. That is why there was huge applause in Taiwan when Japanese public broadcaster NHK referred to the Taiwanese Olympic team as “Taiwan,” instead of “Chinese Taipei” during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. What is standard protocol for most nations — calling a national team by the name their country is commonly known by — is impossible for
India is not China, and many of its residents fear it never will be. It is hard to imagine a future in which the subcontinent’s manufacturing dominates the world, its foreign investment shapes nations’ destinies, and the challenge of its economic system forces the West to reshape its own policies and principles. However, that is, apparently, what the US administration fears. Speaking in New Delhi last week, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau warned that “we will not make the same mistakes with India that we did with China 20 years ago.” Although he claimed the recently agreed framework
The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) on Wednesday last week announced it is launching investigations into 16 US trading partners, including Taiwan, under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to determine whether they have engaged in unfair trade practices, such as overproduction. A day later, the agency announced a separate Section 301 investigation into 60 economies based on the implementation of measures to prohibit the importation of goods produced with forced labor. Several of Taiwan’s main trading rivals — including China, Japan, South Korea and the EU — also made the US’ investigation list. The announcements come
Taiwan is not invited to the table. It never has been, but this year, with the Philippines holding the ASEAN chair, the question that matters is no longer who gets formally named, it is who becomes structurally indispensable. The “one China” formula continues to do its job. It sets the outer boundary of official diplomatic speech, and no one in the region has a serious interest in openly challenging it. However, beneath the surface, something is thickening. Trade corridors, digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI) cooperation, supply chains, cross-border investment: The connective tissue between Taiwan and ASEAN is quietly and methodically growing
RSS