Design matters and it matters for governments. Like companies, countries spend a lot of time and money on branding themselves so that they can communicate clearly to their citizens and also so that they can set themselves apart from others. Now, when talking about how things look, it's always important to understand that taste and design is subjective, with the exception of my own which is unparalleled in its sophistication. But if we establish what goals governments are trying to reach with their design, it becomes a lot easier to determine objectively what a good or bad design decision is And there is one country
in particular — assuming you think good government design is functional and minimalist design — that stands out on top. And that's the Netherlands. If good government design is that which brands a nation as strong to the rest of the world, a country that is probably more fitting is France. Its logo includes the country's most important symbols: the red, white and blue, with the blue being since
recently changed back to its traditional color, and it also includes France's
most important national icon. The french design goes a step further though by also communicating their ground values more explicitly than what may be typical even
when compared with stereotypically louder nations. "E pluribus unum. Out of many, one." Alternatively, if good government design means that it shows off your unique and immediately recognizable assets, the Netherlands also isn't first in line. It's not that tulips aren't great in all or that the Dutch sky isn't beautiful but a country like Estonia, which is known as one of the first that
completely digitized its own government, sometimes does a better job looking like an e-commerce company than an actual government. Another example of a country that is very effective at marketing
its own personal brand would be Sweden, which has seemingly delegated all of its branding to private
industry. Also, if good government design is defined by strictly upholding certain rules and standards almost to the point of insanity, to everyone's amazement and surprise the Germans and the Swiss are probably the leaders. What makes Dutch government design good is its functionality
and simplicity that comes close to but definitely is not: boring. It stays uniform while also
giving room for each individual ministry and it immediately communicates to the Dutch people that something is part of the Dutch state. It does this while also remaining very flat and simple, which also immediately reminds you of the country. In the typical Dutch obsession with being as normal as possible even the national serif font looks like
it's trying its hardest not to be a serif. In 2007, Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende who was always known for his especially creative unique and eccentric personality made the surprising decision to centralize government design and get rid of the hundreds of
individually unique government associated logos in order to make a more, quite literally, monolithic block At the time this wasn't typical as there were only a few countries that had actively tried to centralize their branding schemes And as we can expect from humanity and particularly the Dutch, a lot of people were critical. You had of course the natural debate on whether the government was spending too much money and the Dutch military, which as you know, has always been considered the Netherlands strongest asset and really unique characteristic on the world stage, was so opposed that the government conceded to give each military
branch their own special logo. One of the main criticisms, however, which is what gets to the
heart of why the design is actually pretty good, is that the Dutch government design is just too bland. But this is the wrong way to look at it. It is not a new thing to question that what you may gain in function will be lost in individuality. It's an endless discussion and there are plenty of examples of where companies have given up creative expression for almost unnecessary simplicity. But some could say that governments should be judged by different standards. For many people, not including those who waste their incredibly valuable time consuming political content online, governments can be considered to be doing their best job when its citizens aren't thinking much about it. Take emergency services: this is one of the areas where government probably does want to make sure it's visible and clearly demarcated in daily life. The solution for them are funky stripes, which give the impression that there are more visible emergency services without coming off as intimidating or relying on the cheap use of
neon, which many other European police vehicles do. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of Dutch people who don't appreciate the design of Dutch emergency services like I do. But there are plenty of other examples of good Dutch government design. For example: letters. Each comes off as subtle enough except for the dark blue which is immediately associated with the Dutch tax authorities also conveniently the only important letter you actually need to open. And there are some designs that are even more subtle. If i show you this logo and try to imagine that you've never seen it before in your life what does it tell you? Nothing. But of course
most Europeans know immediately that it signals the Deutsche Bahn which is Germany's national
rail service. And the same is true for the TGV. It doesn't immediately tell you at face value that it's France's high-speed rail service but what if I show you this logo: It's subtle, sure, but you could also easily imagine yourself making the connection between this and the Netherlands'
national rail company. The NS logo is also not so obvious to the point that it's explicit like the Czech Republic's national rail company. All of this is not to say that Dutch design is perfect. No, there are plenty of things that I, with my childish desire to come off as intelligent and worldly as possible, can't even really act like I understand either. For example: PostNL It is what it is. Or better yet, the recently upgraded, national parliament, which looks more like an IKEA-filled
dentist waiting room along with a bunch of rocks glued onto the wall. And there are plenty of
other governments that are also pretty functional. Where each ministry in the Netherlands can technically choose their own department's color even though that color won't be explicitly acknowledged as theirs, the UK does have uniquely color-coded ministries, which is much more slick
in my unquestionable and authoritative opinion. Where the Germans may have phenomenal and groundbreaking industrial design the Swiss placement in grids and the Italian's design that makes you feel incredibly inferior the Dutch navigate a very fine line between fun, simple and sober. And for a government that probably doesn't want to come off as anything
more than normal, that's probably perfectly okay. "No!"
