Tirana was declared the capital at the Lushnja Congress, held on February 8, 1920. This means that after almost three weeks, it will celebrate its 100th anniversary as the capital. On this occasion, the Municipality of Tirana launched a competition to choose the new logo that celebrates both the anniversary and the city.
Finalists were selected for these four logos by Quadr, Florian Sallo, Blerim Tuzi and Carrot. With a narrow margin from the Florian Sallo logo, the winner was the creation of the Carrot, playing with the letters to convey the number 100. The design is colorful, slightly transparent and overlapping.
There were a few people who thought the logo was stolen, inspired more than anyone else's creation. They compared it with a series of similar logos found on the Internet and with the Expocity logo, the fairs and exhibitions space of Tirana's exit.
Fisnik Ismaili, the head of Carrot - who also designed and implemented the New Born monument in downtown Pristina - reacted via a Facebook status posting similar designs himself and trying to distinguish between trend and plagiarism.
?Dear journalist and amateur designers, to accuse someone of plagiarism you must at least have some knowledge of design. Foremost, know how to distinguish style (trend / medium) from concept. Second, do not suffer from the complex of ignorance and make such mistakes to appear knowledgeable, ?Ismaili explains. "Here are dozens of examples in the world of logos that use the same style of colorful, semi-translucent design, where colors blend into each other and combine. Google recently used it. But unlike them, the authenticity of the Tirana logo is precisely to find the beautiful incorporation of the number 100 in the name, using the style in question. ?
Ismail then recalled the time New Born was set up in Pristina, and according to him, the same journalists accused him of being stolen from similar monuments in Amsterdam. However, New Born won seven international awards.
In the private Facebook group, Marketing in Albania, Gert Zenelenberg, who is admittedly neither a designer nor an amateur designer, raises some questions about the winning logo.
Zenelenberg does not understand what the colors have to do with Tirana because, according to him, there are no colors in the city, with the exception of facades and greenery. Second, how will this colorful logo be applied to black and white documents, where it will be used throughout the year. At the end of the status, Zenelenberg says he "does not accuse Carrot of plagiarism, but of a lack of creativity and professionalism."
In response to Gert Zenelenberg, Ismail denies having won the mayor, reveals that the work was done for free because "Carrot wanted to donate something to Tirana." He says he chose many colors because "the color symbolizes diversity: different people , facilities, professions and activities. ?
Ismaili published another proposal that was not selected as a finalist with the same colorful design and highlighting of the number 100 inside the text. Regarding Tirana's identification objects, such as the Clock Tower (which was the focus of the second most-voted logo), Ismaili says he "chose a different approach with numbers and colors. I deliberately did not limit it to the objects that they are today, and tomorrow an earthquake could eradicate them. ?
He also published black and white versions of the negative to answer one of the questions raised.
Ismaili is right when he says that the Tirana logo is neither the first nor the last with these colors, fonts or overlays. But the lone idea of incorporating the number 100 into the name is enough to be called original. Technically, even the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games logo has only the Olympic circles and the year 2020, but the combination makes it special.
However, a good job does not need to be protected so much.
