Open Switzerland project has designs on rebranding the country

Switzerland Tourism is a savvy marketer of the country given its series of hick-farmers videos, but now a design firm is challenging the perception of the country, and enlisting creative souls to help redefine the destination.

You can kiss cuckoo clocks and secret bank accounts goodbye.

Base, a network of design firms with offices in Geneva,  Barcelona, Brussels, New York, and Santiago, has launched an Open Switzerland project, and invited site visitors to download its new Basetica font and create a poster depicting the essence of Switzerland.

The project is very unofficial, which adds to the creative hijinks.

"Base Geneva’s Open Switzerland project puts into question – through rethought, iconic imagery, provocative copy, a surprising, interactive website and a newly designed 'neutral' typeface – just how open Switzerland is to the rest of the world today," the company says.

 

"How is this openness perceived? What image does a Switzerland, with its bank secrecy and finance scandals, project? A Switzerland that chose, rightly or wrongly, isolation in the heart of Europe. A Switzerland that shocked the world by banning minarets. While some think Switzerland is too slow in developing international strategies, others demonstrate that Switzerland is increasingly receptive to outside influence. Either way, how the external world perceives Switzerland is a polemic to address head-on."

Here are a few ideas from the Open Switzerland website:

Meanwhile, SkiftSocial ranks the official tourism board, Switzerland Tourism, as #52 in Twitter followers out of 239 destinations tracked, and today placed #40 position in tweet volume [105 tweets] over the past 14 days.

Switzerland Tourism does much better on Facebook, ranking #16 out of 239 destinations, according to SkiftSocial.

The Base project isn't affiliated with Switzerland Tourism. It is, however, a fun little project in the way it is attempting to crowd-source Switzerland's national identity and brand.

Next up, Austria anyone?