EUANAU

The 2021 2nd year visual communication design class had the opportunity to create new designs to potentially replace the outdated Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Coat of Arms. With the ACT Government, multiple stakeholders and the ACT community to design for, each student had to skillfully juggle the wide array of target audience’s desires into one succinct design.

Being a part of this project, I planned on balancing the broad needs of our target audience through three core ideas; diverse, contemporary and inclusive symbolism. Diverse symbolism showcasing the cultural development of the ACT, contemporary symbolism showcasing the ACTs progressive views and inclusive symbolism to express multicultural identity.

With these ideas of symbolism in mind, the overarching idea that bonded all three core ideas was formed through an emphasis on ‘The Bush Capital’. By connecting the ACT back to the land, the community is able to ground itself through a shared connection. This common goal is emphasised through the heavy implementation of flora and fauna within the ‘Bush Capital Shield’. The design of these illustrations is purposefully minimal for effective reproductive use and as a form of contemporary design (e.g., the illustration of the Brush-Tailed Rock-Wallaby).

Indigenous symbolism at the top of the shield and the illustration of the grinding stones relates to the Indigenous people’s connection to the land and aims to educate those outside of Indigenous descent and to replicate this connection to the land as a diverse and inclusive community.

Overall, the Bush Capital Shield aims to enrich the idea of ‘The Bush Capital’ through contemporary design and pays tribute to the ACTs past in order to reconcile together so that the territory may continue to prosper as a diverse and inclusive territory into the future.