Nazi Identity
The National Socialist German Worker’s Party easier known as the Nazi’s; although a controversial topic and to say the least a bad bunch of people had a brilliant understanding of design, propoganda and symbolism. So good it cultivated a nation that think the same and bow down to its leader, Adolf Hitler. The sole symbol of all the havok they wreaked was the Hakenkreuz (Swastika).
The designer of the logo is unknown although in Mein Kampf (1925) it is known that Hitler ran a competition to design a flag for his nascent party. The Swastika is recognised as a symbol for hatred worldwide after the atrocities that the Nazi party commited. In truth the Swastika doesn’t represent hatred infact means quite the opposite as it is actually just a tilt, quite literally, of the Buddhist symbol as shown below, meaning ‘conducive to well-being’.
Graphic Designer Steven Heller noted that “The swastika’s geometric purity allows for legibility at any size or distance, and when on its axis, the whirling squaring gives the illusion of movement” I can agree strongly with this statement. The spacing, size and simplicity is absolutely perfect for a logo.
Up until the Nazi regime, the Swastika was widely seen as a good luck symbol and even used by companies in promotions and advertising. Come the 1870’s, German businessman and archaeoligist Heinrich Schliemann thought he had discovered the Ancient Greek city of Troy where the swastika was unearthed thousands of times. The Swastika was also unearthed from archaeological remains of the Germanic tribes, from there on nationalists jumped upon the symbol to conclude Greeks and Germans were descendants of the Aryans and so forth the Nazi symbol was born. Ultimately Hitler was clever in pushing the Hakenkreuz for his xenophobic cause as it gave a strong visual identity to the movement and helped to give the people purpose.
This is one of the many posters or propoganda used by Hitler featuring the Swastika. The repetition of the logo and unity between all the posters works well and it can be said the designers Adolf Hitler had, although for a bad cause, were good at what they do as every piece of design worked together to rally a country. In conclusion the logo itself is a fantastic and beautiful piece of design that sadly represents a horrific movement. The lesson that can be learned is that simplicity and legible logos pushed and repeated over and over again has great impact and helps to create a brand with meaning that will be remembered forever.
