The first king of the Netherlands in 122 years was inaugurated this week, and a local firm koeweiden postma provided a new monogram to usher in an exciting new era.
The series of symbols was emblazoned across 1,100 flags and banners, 500 bus shelters and billboards, 30 decorated buildings, and 140,000 paper crowns. the design is a graphic reframing of king willem alexander’s initials into a synthesized and regal monogram that shed a previous iteration containing a crown. aside from meeting the crown-free and textless design brief, the campaign also employed the use of a patriotic color system, opting for a red, white and blue scheme, punctuated with the region’s characteristic bright orange, a lasting chromatic symbol of the royal house of orange-nassau. the campaign worked in conjunction with queen’s day and the already extant ‘i amsterdam’ programming. the city was dressed in iterations of the monogram and cloaked with the festive and regal design– with over 1000 journalists and 50 countries watching, amsterdam had never looked so colorful.
first image
the monogrammed design emblazoned across amsterdam central station
all images courtesy of koeweiden postma
bus shelter poster
orange version of the design
king willem alexander and queen máxima
this view of dam square shows orange-hatted onlookers with the designed banners overhead
other views of dam square
the red white and blue banners of dam square
flags over central station and damrak
the design campiagn even included canvas facades
view of the other side of the IJ-river
one of the orange posters clads a column
existing (left) and new monogram
