Riga patriots’ month communication campaign
Brief description of the project
In terms of content, the communication of the city of Riga during the month of national holidays combines stories about the national flag of Latvia from various private and historical sources and poems by Knuts Skujenieks about everyone's inner sense of freedom. Alongside the lines of poetry about freedom which state that freedom must be sustained individually and nurtured regardless of external circumstances, there are collected stories about the guardians of our flag – people who during the occupation years hid, kept, dismantled and took the Latvian flag with them when they left, thereby becoming the guardians of a free Latvia. Complementing each other, these two concepts form a metaphorical braid of freedom.
Originality and creativity of the idea
Alongside the lines of poetry about freedom which state that freedom must be sustained individually and nurtured regardless of external circumstances, there are collected stories about the guardians of our flag – people who during the occupation years hid, kept, dismantled and took the Latvian flag with them when they left, thereby becoming the guardians of a free Latvia.
Complementing each other, these two concepts form a metaphorical braid of freedom.
Definition of the problem and the relevance of the applied solutions
The flag decorates the city every year in the month of November. However, this year it is important to focus on the story itself – how is it that the Latvian national flag can fly freely on the flagpole. Because our neighbouring states are at war, it is important to remember how we carried a sense of freedom in our hearts ourselves and were unbreakable in our resolve for freedom.
Co-creation, stakeholder involvement and cooperation during the realisation process
Each individual flag and its accompanying story came from a private collection (a family) or a museum collection. Therefore we consider ourselves like curators in this project as we only shed light on what our society has been keeping for a hundred years.
In a similar way we developed the concept of the campaign itself – Knuts Skujenieks’ poetry came from Dārta Apsīte, the concept about the flags and their documentation came from Jānis Klaučs, and the typography of the campaign came from Eva Abduļina.
Functionality and technological solutions
It is worth highlighting that November is one of the darkest months of the year in our latitude, so we decided to use white posters as a background, and the result made the urban environment at least a little brighter. Therefore, we would like to commend the care and attention of the Riga City Council in gluing the posters: to prevent transparency and ensure the proper display of the national flag throughout the city the round billboards of the posters were thoroughly cleaned of the layers of previous materials.
Aesthetics and other experiential dimensions
Regarding visual representation, the national flags were photographed in the spirit of the field of historical documentation – we kept whatever marks and small imperfections were left on the flags due to repair, transportation, or long-term storage. Regarding text, the lines of poetry are displayed in Roman capitals which aesthetically emphasize the nobility of the words, compliment the historical nature of the visual material, and introduce a festive mood into the urban environment.
Economic significance, sustainability and circularity
Although such campaigns are only a small part of the larger discourse which is elaborated over a longer period of time and with various activities, nevertheless an essential understanding of patriotism and a unification of society through common ideals creates a positive economic impact. The project promotes togetherness and development within our society. It can promote people's awareness of and a responsibility for the development of our country and create a desire to invest into and develop the state, and maintain its growth in a sustainable way, ensuring prosperity for future generations.
Social relevance, inclusion, availability and accessibility
The format of the campaign honours our symbol of national identity through the stories of the individual flags and their keepers. The stories reveal how their owners carried their ideals through difficult and unique experiences, instead of painting a perfect, flawless manifestation of the flag as a symbol. In this way, we promote the act of coming together around an ideal, regardless of origin or social affiliation.
The campaign was implemented in all neighbourhoods of Riga and ensured the legibility and accessibility of the content – large lines of poetry and the national flag – for people with poor eyesight.
