IDA and Pentagram recreate Pangaea

The International Design Alliance (IDA) has unveiled a new visual identity for its biennial IDA Congress, “the primary event for dialogue between designers and stakeholders of design in a summit format.”

“Designed and developed by Pentagram, the new look focuses on an artistic restructuring of Pangaea, a theory of Greek origin meaning “all lands” in support of the idea that at one time, all of the earth’s continents were once a single landmass. Pentagram’s solution for a permanent identity for the IDA Congress is a seemingly abstract shape that is ultimately composed of the silhouettes of all continents. At small scale, its shape is ambiguous. Enlarged, the geographic details come into view.”

Quoted from the ICSID website.

“Each Congress host, selected on a biennial basis, will be able to customise the identity within a system developed by Pentagram, showcasing the unique attributes and culture of the host city.”

And because you’ll obviously want to know, the single enormous ocean that surrounded Pangaea, Pangæa, or Pangea (from Ancient Greek pan ‘entire’, and Gaia ‘Earth’, Latinized as Gæa), was accordingly named Panthalassa (meaning ‘all sea’).

Pangaea image via Wikipedia
Note the speed at which India moved toward Asia around the 60 million years mark in this Pangaea animation (embedded above) — the counter in the lower-left signifies each million years in the past, counting toward the present. The collision formed (and continues to form) the Himalayas.
But it’s all hyperbole. The earth was actually created in the early hours of October 23rd, 4004 BC.

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