If doctors, lawyers, and chartered accountants can have their own professional logos, why not architects?

To build a brand identity for its professionals, the Council of Architecture, which regulates the education and practice of architects, has announced a contest inviting entries to design a logo for the profession in India.

The logos are used for various things ranging from letter heads to visiting cards to parking stickers.

“In a democratic set-up, the best idea can be found through crowd sourcing. Also, we want more people to know about our profession, especially as the country embarks on a plan to develop smart cities, Make in India, etc, where architects will play a big role,” said Ashutosh Kumar, Adviser, Council of Architecture.

Currently, the profession does not enjoy much visibility and the Council hopes that with this exercise it will improve, he added.

However, Rajiv Bhakat, Partner, Studio Code, a Delhi-based architecture firm, says, “A logo does very little. Effort should be put to strengthen the Council, which at present, is not a strong organisation, unlike the Bar Association of India. First, you need to strengthen the organisation and then brand it.”

The contest is open only to individuals who can submit a maximum of three entries each through the council’s website.

Participation fee It is not open to companies, educational institutions, organisations, etc.

According to the guidelines, resident Indians will need to pay a participation fee of ₹1,000, non-resident Indians ₹3,250, while the amount is significantly lower for students. The winning design will likely be announced in July and the winner will get ₹1 lakh cash prize.

Interestingly, the ₹ symbol was also selected through a similar process.

In 2009, the Government had announced a contest to select the symbol for the Indian rupee. D Udaya Kumar who was then a postgraduate student at IIT-Bombay had won the competition.

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