The Question
Logos, ubiquitous yet often overlooked, are the silent markers of our world. They adorn products, uniforms and institutions — such as political parties, corporations, cities, universities, sports teams or events. In our modern landscapes, they saturate our surroundings, blending with architecture, guiding travelers along motorways, dominating our skies on airline liveries and even finding a place in the most intimate corners of our homes — from book spines and refrigerators to toys, clothing and digital screens.
Logos are not just symbols. We design them, but in turn, they shape us: They steer desires and consumption, structure our communication, mediate social conflicts and enable political propaganda.
By viewing the logo as an “impersonal influencer” within a broader “logoscape” — the visual–social environment we inhabit — this research seeks to answer a dual question: Analytically, how do logos function across economic, political, religious and cultural domains? And normatively, how could a more comprehensive public understanding reshape the way institutions, designers and citizens utilize and perceive them?
The Approach
The City of Signs: Understanding Logos project aims to comprehend logos by examining them as total social facts, as per Marcel Mauss’ definition. The method of social aesthetics employed by the City of Signs researchers is a rich blend of the conceptual, synthetic and reflective orientation of philosophy with the empirical insights of the social sciences. This interdisciplinary approach not only promises to avoid disciplinary fragmentation but also ensures a comprehensive understanding of the anthropological dimension of the logo, addressing broader human needs — for belonging, recognition, distinction — through the visual codification of collective identity.
On the one hand, the project brings into focus the long-term historical dimension of the logo, often mistakenly regarded as a recent phenomenon born of Western capitalist development. The logo boasts an ancient lineage, intersecting, among others, with numismatics, heraldry, the Renaissance tradition of emblems, the history of artists’ signatures and royal manufactories. This historical depth enriches our understanding of the logo’s role in shaping human culture.
On the other hand, the project underscores the global geographical dimension of the logoscape. To capture this dynamic, the project will combine archival research with comparative fieldwork in diverse urban environments, including New York, Tokyo, Kyoto, Mumbai, New Delhi and Siena. This approach will allow the researchers to examine how logos mediate belonging, conflict, commerce and cultural life on a global scale.
Complementing this academic inquiry, practice-based research will engage graphic designers and produce original photographic documentation. The five-year program will culminate in the exhibition Logoscapes: Between Past, Present and Future, as well as a collective, illustrated volume that consolidates the theoretical, historical and field-based findings for scholars, practitioners and citizens alike.
City of Signs: Understanding Logos is being led by Barbara Carnevali at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, in Paris, France, with the Accademia di Architettura of Mendrisio at the Università della Svizzera Italiana in Switzerland as the host institution.
Feature image: Denise Scott Brown, Architettura Minore on The Strip, Las Vegas, 1966, Carnegie Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by Elise Jaffe & Jeffrey Brown
