[WATCH] MCAST student’s design chosen for Maltese EU presidency visual identity

EU2017MT visual identity launched

The Maltese cross was inevitably the inspiration behind the logo and visual identity chosen for Malta’s presidency of the Council of the European Union between January and June 2017, according to Ian Borg, Parliamentary Secretary for the EU Presidency 2017.

Borg, who was addressing a press conference with Louis Grech, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for European Affairs, said that the logo was chosen from among 29 designs submitted by MCAST students.

"This is a contemporary interpretation of an emblem that is synonymous with Malta," he said. “It is a logo that you, we, and the rest of Europe will be seeing a lot of in the next six months, so we wanted to make sure it meant something, as well as being something we will all enjoy looking at.”

Borg said that once six designs had been shortlisted, one started to really stand out: Alexia Muscat’s concept, rooted in the Maltese cross, an emblem associated with the Knights of the Order of St John.

“For the knights, the eight points represented the eight lands of their origin, as well as the eight aspirations of the Order; truth, faith, repentance, humility, justice, mercy, sincerity and endurance,” he said.

Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg said Alexia Muscat's design was chosen from among 29 submissions

“These eight aspirations have reflected themselves in the character of our country’s people, and the Maltese cross has become an instantly recognisable emblem of the Islands.”

In its earliest version, the logo was an eight-point line drawing, red on white, matching the colours of the Maltese flag, but its contours were then reworked through other shapes and symbols representing other Maltese cultural traditions – namely windmills, the traditional ‘luzzu’, tiles and door knobs.

Borg said that the design was then refined and updated to reflect Malta’s contemporary, forward-looking vision, without ever losing sight of Muscat’s original concept.