Abstract
This paper addresses the development of a visual identity for the city of Porto, to discuss how hegemonic discourses on place identity, on the part of local governments, have been bypassing the complexity of urban environments and replacing it with allegedly consensual narratives, aimed at promotional purposes. The visual branding of Porto by its municipality has become a ubiquitous presence in public space since 2014; driven by high levels of international tourism and a fast gentrification process, the “Porto.” brand has provided a dominant narrative, that supports the City Council’s development strategy. Critical voices have contested this vision, namely by placing subversions of the city’s logo onto public spaces, as if reclaiming a healthy need for dissent. Through a critical analysis of the brand’s identity manual, we examine the underlying rhetoric that oriented this visual identity exercise, questioning problematic equivalences that symbolically entail the obliteration of public debate. Furthermore, the gathering and analysis of appropriations of the city’s visual language with different purposes, reveals an under-acknowledged map of local dynamics, interpreted in the light of the problems under discussion. The assessment of these issues, in a moment when the context we describe has changed so drastically, due to the worldwide pandemic, brings a new set of questions to Porto and to many other cities that have invested much in the construction of an external image. The visual branding of Porto added a full stop to the city’s name, which must now, more than before, be replaced by a question mark.
Presenters
Ana Miriam RebeloPhD Student, Design, School of Fine Arts, University of Porto, Portugal Heitor Alvelos
Associate Professor, Design, University of Porto, School of Fine Arts, Portugal, Portugal
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Place identity, Porto, Hegemonic discourses, City branding, Subvertising
