‘God created the world, but the Dutch created Netherlands’. Now Amit Biswas has created a masterpiece that tells the story of every single Dutch municipality (gemeente). In his book ‘Logo Land‘, Amit relates the history behind the 352 municipality logos, taking us on an incredible trip around the Netherlands.
A veritable treasure trove…
Have you noticed the three red waves in the logo of Eindhoven? Did you know these are called vibes and represent the bursting energy of our city? The vibes convey that Eindhoven thrives on the transforming energy of technology, design and knowledge. Logo Land tells us that the colour red used in the logo is called the ‘Eindhoven Red’.
You can read about the famous three red crosses ‘XXX’ of gemeente Amsterdam to the bold inscription logo of Zwolle within the covers of Logo Land.
Chances are pretty slim that you would have heard of the gemeente Hardinxveld-Giessendam. Well, there is a gemeente by that name and its logo even has a bird featured on it!
Each logo is painstakingly described, drawing attention to the inspiration, the design and even the logic behind the colour scheme. It is impressive that the author has researched and documented the year of design, designer and province of each logo. We can guarantee that you will find yourself turning the pages to look up a municipality you have visited. Logo Land can easily get addictive!
Making Eindhoven proud…
Amit Biswas moved to the Netherlands from Bangladesh in 2011. He has been a resident of Eindhoven since 2012. Biswas was inspired to dive into the world of municipality logos after he saw information beacons with the new logo of Eindhoven being put up around the city. This was way back in 2016 and thus began a long journey of research and hard work.
In the introduction, Biswas talks about how he collected the data for his book – working full time by day and toiling on the research by night. One cannot but be impressed by an author who read up Dutch newspapers from the 80’s and browsed municipality websites from 15 years back! How many of us would  think to question the everyday objects we see around us and take for granted? Hats off to this curious citizen who collaborated with municipalities, mayors, brand agencies and designers to come up with a book like no other!
A welcome addition to your library collection…
Logo Land is a keeper. If you are a history or logo enthusiast, you might read it from cover to cover. Some might want to look up interesting towns from time to time. A must-have for a Dutch trivia night or, rather a welcome corollary to the KNM (Kennis van de Nederlandse Maatschappij) material! It is indeed heart-warming that Biswas lists the names of more than 75 people who helped him while writing this book on the Thank you page.  He has created a true legacy, and we will look forward to his next project. To sum up in the author’s own words: ‘This book is my little piece of happiness, which I want to share with you and the rest of the world.’
Discover more @ https://amitbiswas.nl/logo-land/
For Eindhoven News: Muktha Kartik Iyer
Muktha is a Process Consultant by profession and is passionate about books, languages and animals. She is working on her dream of publishing a rack full of books of her own.
