Designer Ken Cato defends our new SA brand

A CONFUSING conversation with South American colleagues prompted the designer of the state's new brand to "steal the country" for South Australia's logo.

A CONFUSING conversation with South American colleagues prompted the designer of the state's new brand to "steal the country" for South Australia's logo.

But Ken Cato scoffed at suggestions the design borrows heavily from others he has created for Channel 7 and the Commonwealth Bank.

The branding expert said the stylised red map of Australia with a set of doors at its centre depicting SA was designed to convey a simple and clear message about the state's place in the world.

While working on the project, Mr Cato visited Peru and Colombia, where he told colleagues he was working on a brand in South Australia.

"They said whereabouts in south Australia ... they were seeing southern Australia (as a whole), so that sort of said to me we better make sure we identify where this place is," he said. "It's a larrikin thing to do - why not just steal the map of Australia and use it.

"Immediately you know this is not South Africa, this is not South America, this is not Saudi Arabia."

Mr Cato's team began with about seven ideas before whittling them down to two final options.

However, he was tight-lipped about what was left on the cutting room floor.

He expected people to criticise the brand at first but believes they will eventually take pride in it.

"Its about clarification of (SA's) identity," he said.

"A number of people are just going to dump on this, say `What's that about?' but five years from now they will be the ones that remember how they were the only one that thought it was really good."

The red colour was chosen because "its the state colour" and was reminiscent of icons like the Sturt Desert Pea.

The image uses angular lines and an origami style which has been likened to two other logos Cato created, for Channel 7 and the Commonwealth bank, but he said any similarities were not intended.

"I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a negative or a positive thing but if it (SA's brand) sits alongside two of Australia's most successful brands then I think that's pretty good," he said.

"If I showed you a couple of thousand pieces of work that we have done I think you'd find enormous differences of style."