What's in an Icon?

Visiting Santiago Calatrava's website today, I see it's been redesigned. This is the splash page:


Does that little icon (I wouldn't call it a logo) go with the designs of the name over which it's located? To me it looks too traditional, like it would be found on the letterhead of staunch law firm, or on a napkin at a fancy restaurant, or on a box from a custom suit shop, or ... To me, it says anything but Calatrava. Who knows, maybe they'll change the icon or get rid of it entirely. These days it seems businesses will easily and quickly give up their redesigned images.

Update 10.29: As some astute readers have pointed out to me, the symbol is the Calatrava Cross, dating back to the 12th century. It is also used by Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe.

Comments

  1. This symbol is the Calatrava Cross (cruz de Calatrava in spanish). It looks like a medieval symbol. It was used in shields and is the symbol of the Calatrava Order (don't know if it is a correct translation in english). You can see it in spanish wikipedia (http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruz_de_Calatrava). Hope this helps. :).

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  2. Yes, that helps a lot...much more traditional than I anticipated! At least there's a connection, it's not totally arbitrary.

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  3. Very traditional, a bit too traditional I would think. Just like to say i am new to Blogger and love your blog! Well done on it!

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