In the Kenyan constitution there is something called the Heraldry Society or the College of Heraldry. The new NYS logo has failed to meet the guidelines of this Heraldry act. There was a lot of politics behind this new design but I choose to focus on the creative aspect of it. If you look at the history of heraldry of the Court of Arms in Kenya as stated in the constitution there is a clear guide as to how we ended up with our current Court of Arms with all the symbolism behind it explained so well. The Court of Arms has been used as the basis of crafting the four branch services symbols under the military face of Kenya namely the Kenya Army, Kenya Airforce, Kenya Navy and the Kenya Police force. NYS is also a sub branch like the GSU which means it should follow suit when it comes to heraldry design. The NYS was formed in 1964 to train the youth in technical skills like plumbing, cobbler, carpentry, etc in case you are wondering why kenyans know about plumbing, meter reading and shoe making yet there is no college for such, well thats where they learn and its free you just have to join the NYS. The idea behind it was inspired by the fact that Kenya needed to build its infrastructure at that time and so they required youths to be trained to do those jobs with a little bit of military rules and discipline. take up arms and build the nation. lets observe this new logo that is not in line with the 4 military branches, 1st of all the posture of the spade is all wrong, a spade laying in that position means the work is over or is on a break, then to be placed under the supposed shield? does it mean we are digging a grave for our youth just about to bury them? what is a spade mostly used for? - the symbolism is all wrong, if you look at the other branches - the Kenya Amry rifles, the Kenya Navy anchor and and the Kenya Air Force eagle, they are all in action postures. Another observation is there is a reason why the other shields are curved like that, no Kenyan community had a shield that takes the shape of this current NYS logo and that basically means that no community has been represented by this new logo. To make matters worse the shield is supposedly wrapped by the Kenyan flag.....what Im I getting at you ask? Mummies are wrapped; traditionally wrapped things meant they are being preserved lest they decay. Bringing that concept to the National YOUTH Service does it mean that we are wrapping our youth away lest they decay? Finally, when it comes to house style guidelines this new logo has gone the extreme opposite because with heraldry they will require special branding like badges (what new shape will it take?) then ribbons, medals and so forth and going by the constitution on the heraldry of Kenya this new logo will not cater to all those things as per the house styles, for instance what shall be written on the ribbons how will they tie in with the house style of the other branches? This new logo is basically unconstitutional because it doesnt uphold the rules of heraldry as clearly stated in the Kenyan Constitution. I know people say that some of this rules are ancient and archaic but you need to learn why these rules were put there in the first place you cannot erace an entire history just to please contemporary ideals (mwacha mila ni mtumwa) thats exactly why Kenyans dont have uzalendo because we dont understand so much of our history especially our journey to an independent sovereign state. Even real designers know that if you dont respect the elements and principles of design then you cannot possibly have the ability to create...the rules never change...creativity is dynamic sometimes you dont need to think outside the box instead you just redefine the box or at least try to change the perception of how the box is viewed without havingto change anything. Basically Im saying this NYS logo ignored why NYS was formed and how the Kenyan Sovereign State existed in the first place. Ps: The old NYS logo was very much in line with the other branches i just cant seem to find it now so that you can see it. (this is not just my two cents...maybe 2 dollars :-P )
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 07:44:20 +0000
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