Aatmnirbhar.
An open call.
A golden bird.
A mark India picked up.
In 2020, India launched the Aatmnirbhar Bharat initiative, and MyGov opened a public competition for its mark. I entered with the Indian tricolour and Ashok Chakra fused with a golden bird, a reference to the country once being called sone ki chidiya. The competition was never formally decided. The mark was taken up by the PM SVANidhi scheme and is used by manufacturers marking Indian-made goods, without credit.
A national moment needed a national visual identity.
In 2020, Prime Minister Modi announced Aatmnirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India), a sweeping economic response to the COVID-19 crisis. The initiative needed a symbol: something that could represent Make in India, self-sufficiency, and national unity simultaneously.
MyGov opened a public competition for the mark, and I entered.
Three ideas, one mark.
The challenge was precise: a mark that says self-reliance without feeling isolationist, and unity without being generic. It had to work everywhere from a phone screen to factory packaging.
The tricolour
Saffron, white and green, the colours of the national flag.
The Ashok Chakra
The wheel at the heart of the flag, anchoring the mark.
The golden bird
A nod to India once being called sone ki chidiya, the golden bird.
One proportional grid
Every curve and angle built on a single system, so it holds up from a phone screen to packaging.
Taken up by PM SVANidhi.
Used on Indian-made goods.
The competition was never formally decided. The mark was taken up anyway by PM SVANidhi, a micro-credit scheme for street vendors and one of the most visible COVID-19 relief programmes in India. From there, manufacturers began using it to mark Indian-made goods.
None of it came with credit. Today a large number of manufacturers across India use the mark on their packaging.
No credit also means no easy way to prove reach. What exists instead is the trail it left: the messages from strangers who found it and used it, unprompted.
"Good design does not ask permission; it simply works for people."