Socialstyrelsen, the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, is a government agency under the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs that works to ensure good health, social welfare and high-quality health and social care on equal terms for the whole Swedish population.[1] The agency’s visual identity is built around a logotype that has remained in continuous use since the early 1980s, surviving several attempts at replacement.
Design and History
Socialstyrelsen’s logotype dates to 1981.[2] Since its introduction, the agency has changed the mark’s color and typography twice while retaining the same core logotype.[3] The logotype is described as long and narrow, which made it difficult to place alongside other logos without reducing size to the point where the text became hard to read.[3]
In 2011, the agency announced plans to overhaul its entire visual identity, citing inconsistent graphic output across its thousands of publications and other materials. The logotype was the only consistent element across the agency’s communications.[2] The design agency Identity Works won the procurement in early 2012 with a base contract of approximately 650,000 Swedish kronor.[3]
The project ultimately cost more than 1.5 million kronor, more than double the original estimate.[4] Identity Works did produce a new logotype as part of the assignment, but the agency decided at the last moment not to use it.[4] The decision came after the government’s care and social services inquiry proposed splitting the agency, and Socialstyrelsen’s communications director Ulrika Lyth said the agency did not want to change its “highest symbol” while its future mandate was unclear.[5]
The old logotype was kept, with the only change being a color shift from red to blue.[4] The earlier color was described as rust red, replaced by dark blue for all color printing. The typography and the agency’s emblem remained the same as before.[6]
Meaning and Symbolism
The logotype contains the letters “Sos” as an anagram of the agency’s name. This has caused confusion with the emergency service SOS Alarm and with “soc,” a Swedish abbreviation for social services, which the agency sought to reduce when planning its redesign.[2] A semiotic analysis commissioned by the agency in 2010 examined the emblem in depth, including speculation about how the S’s could also be interpreted as snakes and what symbolic associations that might carry.[6]
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