WINNER OF ODPOD LOGO COMPETITION UNVEILED

The Office of the Director of Public Officers’ Declarations (ODPOD), an independent public body within the Malawi Government, established under the Public Officers’ (Declaration of Assets, Liabilities and Business Interests) Act of 2013, requires the president, Cabinet, Members of Parliament and prescribed public officers to declare their assets, liabilities and business interest upon assuming office, including filling updates annually. ODPOD administers, monitors and enforces the declarations regime in Malawi.

In 2015 the Office of the Director of Public Officers’ Declarations (ODPOD) conducted an open competition to design a logo that would distinctly embody and portray the concept, values and mandate of the Directorate. Apart from serving as a symbol of institutional identity, the logo was also meant to headline the Directorate’s Communication Strategy as one way of operationalizing the functions of the Directorate.

The judging panel had four officers. Two of the officers comprised senior officers from ODPOD and two communication and public relations experts from other public sector institutions. The Chief Judge for the competition was Mrs. Portia Kajanga of Roads Authority and the other judge was Mr Bob Chilemba who is currently at Ministry of Agriculture Irrigation and Water Development who was by then at Ministry of Information.

Mr Chilemba is the Deputy Director of Administration at Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development and he is an accomplished communication expert.

Twelve entries depicting various artistic and graphic designs were received and after assessment based on the agreed criteria one design captured the imagination of the judging panel. Among the criteria,the design had to be:-

1. Original, simple, clear, smart, distinctly identifiable and memorable.
2. The design had to portray the main core values of the Directorate namely transparency and accountability with simplicity.
3. It had to incorporate the creative use of the acronym of the Directorate “ODPOD”.

MR ALINAFE MULENGA submitted the best logo design and was the winner of the ODPOD LOGO DESIGN COMPETITION.

 

THE WINNING LOGO DESIGNER: ODPOD’s Director, Mr. Christopher Tukula presenting a Winner’s Certificate to Mr. Alinafe Mulenga, the winner of the ODPOD Logo design competition as Mr. Bob Chilemba watches on.

Alinafe Mulenga is a 28 year old, self-taught graphic designer. He specializes in brand development, strategic marketing, and digital marketing. He is currently working for Corporate Graphics Limited in Blantyre. With a career spanning 7 years, he has worked on such brands as UGI, Lafarge, Shoprite, Air Cargo, Carrick, Capital Alliance and FDH bank. He is studying accounting at Malawi College of Accountancy and also wishes to study marketing starting from July 2019.

He learnt about the ODPOD logo competition from a newspaper advert and immediately decided to give it a shot. He was inspired to take part in this competition because according to him, designing a logo of a public institution would give him the opportunity to design something more permanent, something that would stand the test of time. This is not the case with corporate and marketing designs that have to be refreshed or changed every now and then.

ODPOD launched its new Logo at Sunbird Capital Hotel on 28^th February, 2019 in Lilongwe in pursuit of enhancing institutional identity. The Director of Public Officer’s Declarations, Mr. Christopher Tukula presented the Winner’s Certificate to Mr Alinafe Mulenga on 28^th February, 2019.

In order to fully represent ODPOD through its Logo several things were put into consideration.

• The ODPOD Logo has an easy to read font.
• The Logo includes ODPOD’s corporate color which is maroon.
• Aspects of the declaration initiative which include a tied up money bag to portray liabilities and a house to represent assets. The two features are in ODPOD’s secondary colour which is gold.
• It has two hands as an element portraying public officers’ full disclosure, submissiveness and sincerity in the declaration of assets, liabilities and business interests. The hands represent a man or woman in a very simple way.
• The words Office of the Director of Public Officers’ Declaration were aligned in a dome shape, forming an umbrella perception to symbolize that ODPOD encompasses all the elements represented below the dome. These words were placed in front of a gold circle.                                                                                     

Office of the Director of Public Officers’ Declarations (ODPOD) is using its new logo in all its correspondences and transactions.