Burrow

Flagge Zeigen – Red Cross on white background. The initial idea was striking. One sign marks medical posts and rescuers in war, protecting them from the fighting. A sign that everyone knows and all fighting parties use. The idea found its way into international law in 1864 and was given a shape: A red cross on a white background. But it did not remain with the one, universal protective sign, soon there were two, then three, and now multiple iterations of the initial red cross on a white background exist. The protective signs became subjects of religious and political disputes that lasted for decades. To this day, the neutrality and universal acceptance of the signs remains a vulnerable asset. Constant educational, mediating and diplomatic skills are needed worldwide to strengthen recognition of the signs of protection. After all, in war, human lives depend on them. 

The visual direction shows three different signs interweaving and merging into a new symbol. Throughout the overall exhibition identity we worked with the original red tone as a transporting color reference. Additionally it was important to work within a set of grid structuring exhibition elements. Therefore the concept of segmentation and rearranging the fragments can be seen as a superordinate design choice in every part of the project. The curators expressed the idea of recycling frame elements form a previous exhibition concept. These already existing exhibition elements functioned as a visual reference. They formed the anchor point for the idea of segmentation and reconstruction. Initially we played around with iterations of the different symbols and pasted the fragments on a grid like structure. These were the first ideas around segmenting the different elements and reconstructing them. After some playful and seemingly suprematist first drafts, we came to the conclusion that one joint symbol referencing the various political ideas would be the strongest solution for the key visual.