Reinventing Democracy Logo

The logo of the Reinventing Democracy project has been designed with a number of perspectives in mind to reflect the philosophy, the fluidity and the multidimensionality of the project. These are exemplified in the following paragraphs.

Philosophy

The logo is inspired by the flocking behavior of birds, which is considered an exemplary expression of collective intelligence and collective wisdom without central control. The beauty of this phenomenon is that It shows us how an emergent behavior can arise from simple rules that are followed by individuals without any central coordination. Scientists have studied the phenomenon and discovered that the basic models of flocking behavior are controlled by only three simple rules:

Alignment - steer towards the average heading of neighbors and the collective direction
Separation - avoid crowding neighbors (short range repulsion)
Cohesion - steer towards average position of neighbors (long range attraction)

The success of the flocking behavior for survival does not depend on a leader; the change of leadership is a smooth, almost playful interaction between the birds. Long-term leaders are not an essential part of the design. Interestingly, also the ancient Athenian democracy chose the members its assembly (ἐκκλησία, ekklêsia) by lottery and not though elections.

Animation

The aspiration os for this project to have no beginning and ending like all formal projects. This is not about implementing a number of activities and concluding with some deliverables, but about setting in motion a series of processes that will continue beyond its formal life time. To symbolize this, the logo has been designed as an animation rather than as a static logo. Five flocks of dots representing young people from the five regions of the earth are continuously moving, changing the world.