Logo

The logo of the ICC was created at the end of 1992 and the beginning of 1993 following an appointment by a closed competition entered by five renown graphic designers from Krakow who had already been working with the new institution. The author of the winning design was Monika Pietsch, a graduate from Krakow’s Academy of Fine Arts. The jury chaired by Prof. Piotr Krakowski selected Pietsch’s entry praising its formal qualities, simplicity, clarity of shape and composition as well as semantic charge.

The ICC logo is composed of a square, circle and a straight line proportionally divided into parts marked with letters A, B and C. So little, and, simultaneously, so much – especially when bearing in mind multiple associations the logo gives birth to.

Philosophy and references

The Vitruvian Man – a famous drawing by Marcus Viruvius Pollio (1st century BC), a Roman architect and constructor of machines of war, popularised by Leonardo da Vinci circa 1490, depicts a male nude figure in two superimposed positions, one inscribed in a circle, while the other in a square.

An analogy to the Vitruvian Man and reference to the golden (meaning harmonious) division of a straight line bring to one’s mind both antiquity and the Renaissance period. Square and circle are the ideal figures, signs of universe, harmony, symmetry, proportion and order – in short, truth and beauty (as understood by many philosophical systems of ancient and modern times). Letters A, B and C are geometrically known elements of graphs, charts, and formulas. However, they are also the opening letters of the alphabet, which, inevitably, invites one to sequential thinking. Consequently, they are elements of an open and dynamic structure…

Such a logo is, in fact, a declaration. Invoking the European heritage, we are enrooted in the traditions of Europe – ancient, liberal, open and un-xenophobic.

The ICC develops and evolves, faces ‘new challenges;’ however, the message of the logo is constantly valid and fresh, and, by no means, restrictive. This proves a great value of the sign and supports a claim that noble simplicity and rightly measured level of abstraction are irreplaceable.