Water
Walker Spruit joins the Apies River in central Pretoria. Their confluence gives the idea a local foundation: two approaches, one continuing flow.
Destination Tshwane · identity proposal 2026
Where we meet.
Come as many. Move as one.
Walker Spruit joins the Apies River in central Pretoria. The Y expresses that meeting: distinct paths, shared space and a continuing direction.
PLACE. WATER. MEETING. THE Y.01 / Idea02 / Making of the Y03 / Mark04 / System05 / Experiences06 / In the city07 / Economic role08 / Adoption
01 / Idea
Place, water, meeting, the Y.
Where the nation,
the world and
daily life meet.
The idea. Tshwane is a meeting place, not a single landmark. The Y shows two paths arriving at one centre and moving on together.
A single landmark describes an attraction. An organising idea connects a destination.
The Presidency at the Union Buildings, most of South Africa’s foreign embassies and high commissions, universities, markets, the bushveld and the jacarandas: Tshwane holds them within one metro. The Y turns that meeting into one repeatable visual behaviour: approach, meet, continue.
Read the strategic caseMeeting
The national grammar of convergence, read in the flag’s Y-shaped band: separate paths meet and move forward together. The Y shares it; it is not a redraw of the flag.
The Y
Geometric abstraction turns that behaviour into one mark: twelve experiences, no new logos, and proposed touchpoints can lead visitors to participating local businesses.
Positioning · strategic territory
“For visitors, delegates and residents, Tshwane is South Africa’s meeting place: the capital where the country’s institutions, heritage, nature and people come together within one metro.”
For decisions and partners; not published as copy. How it was tested.
Payoff · public
WHERE WE MEET.
Short and repeatable. Campaign lines such as Meet the capital. extend it; they never replace it.
A capital with many meeting places
Recognisably Tshwane.
The Union Buildings give the campaign a recognisable civic setting. Architecture, people and landscape carry the stories; the geometric Y connects them across the destination.
Supporting landmark illustration · the approved Y remains the primary identity.
02 / The making of the Y
A visual case study · September 2026
How a place
informs a symbol.
Tshwane, place, connection, convergence, meeting, abstraction, the Y, where we meet. Each step says what is evidence, what is interpretation and what is design, and why the mark became simpler as it was refined.
Sources and a fact / interpretation / proposal table are in the full rationale.
01 · Tshwane
Tshwane is a city
of convergence.
- Rivers leave the city and meet. Mapped below · OpenStreetMap
- People meet.
- Languages meet. Census 2011 · Stats SA
- Government meets.
- Nature and city meet.
- South Africa meets the world.
- Where we meet.
02 · Place
Two rivers approach.
One continues.
In central Pretoria, Walker Spruit joins the Apies River beside the Caledonian grounds, near Lion Bridge. Two incoming watercourses become one continuing flow. This local confluence grounds the identity’s idea: separate paths meeting and continuing together.
Geographic evidence: local Apies and Walker Spruit waterway geometry from OpenStreetMap, north up.
The mapped relationship
- Apies River flows into the meeting from the south.
- Walker Spruit approaches from the south-east and joins the Apies.
- Apies River continues north from the confluence.
- Walker Spruit is also written Walkerspruit. Names and the confluence are corroborated by published sources; the mapped Walker reaches are unnamed in this OpenStreetMap extract.
Junction · 25.7460472°S, 28.2013841°E
03 · A real meeting
- Incoming watercourses
- Apies + Walker Spruit
- Continuing river
- Apies River
- Location
- Central Pretoria
The geometry records an urban, partly channelised waterway. Source details and the local drawing method are in junction-measurements.json.
The boundary.
The confluence is geographic evidence of meeting, not a template for the logo. The north-up map shows the Apies continuing north. The upright Y’s downward stem is a design orientation, not a claim that the river flows south. Its exact approved geometry remains unchanged.
The geography supplied the behaviour.
Design supplied the discipline.
04 · Convergence
The flag provides a national grammar.The land provides the evidence.The Y is where they meet.
“The centre lines of the band start in the top and bottom corners next to the flag post, converge in the centre of the flag, and continue horizontally to the middle of the free edge.”
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, Schedule 1: National flag
“…can be interpreted as the convergence of diverse elements within South African society, taking the road ahead in unity.”
South African Government, National flag
The Tshwane mark is not a redraw of the South African flag.
- Shared: a grammar of convergence. Separate lines meet and continue as one.
- Not shared: the flag’s horizontal orientation, band proportions and hoist triangle.
- Colour: the Y’s green and gold also appear in the flag. Here they are brand colours, chosen for contrast alongside purple and silver. The Government notes that “no universal symbolism should be attached to any of the colours”, and this proposal attaches no flag meaning to them.
05 · Meeting
A name with more
than one story.
Accounts of where the name Tshwane comes from differ. This proposal doesn’t depend on any of them, and makes no claim that the name means “rivers” or anything else.
Languages in the City of Tshwane · Census 2011
Share of residents by first language, as listed in Statistics South Africa’s City of Tshwane profile. Eleven spoken languages and Sign Language are recorded.
06 · Abstraction
The designer’s table.
New explanatory design studies — September 2026
Made for this proposal to show the reasoning behind the mark. They are not historical sketches from the original design process. Tap a study to look closer.
Place through architecture.
An exploration of civic imagery and destination recognition. The Union Buildings contribute to the campaign’s visual language; the final primary identity remains the geometric Y.
Place through wildlife.
An exploration of the destination’s nature story. Wildlife belongs in photography, illustration and experience campaigns, with the approved Y providing a consistent signature.
The design decision. Keep the primary mark clear and adaptable. Let richer imagery describe individual experiences around it.
07 · The Y
Geography geometry
Explore the transition from geographic evidence to design interpretation. The local river geometry establishes the relationship; the approved Y gives it a distinct, carefully proportioned form. This is an explanatory study, not a claim about the logo’s historical construction.
- Stage
- Geographic evidence
- Meanders
- Kept, as mapped
- Rotation
- North-up
- Arms
- Mapped relationship
- Continuing path
- Apies flows north
- Simplify. Replace the meanders with straight lines along each river’s general direction.
- Orient. Turn the relationship into an upright design study. It is no longer a north-up map.
- Balance. The approved Y uses balanced arms and a vertical stem. These proportions are design choices, not measured river angles.
- Resolve. Separate forms, a light meeting space and a vertical stem give the idea the discipline of a symbol.
08 · Where we meet
Three fields.
One form.
Geography
Confluence. Water. Movement.
Nation
Convergence. Unity. Forward movement.
Destination
Meeting. Arrival. Exchange.
WHERE WE MEET.
An explanatory sequence. The mark’s parts aren’t assigned to individual fields, communities or colours.
Optional · try it
Trace the
convergence.
Drag from each dot toward the centre, or press a dot to draw its path. Nothing here is needed to follow the proposal.
0 of 3 paths traced.
You found it.WHERE WE MEET.
03 / Mark
One mark. A clear argument.
The meeting
made visible.
Select a detail to read the geometry.
The Y is a designed form. It shares the grammar of convergence South Africans read in the flag; it is not a redraw of the flag, and its colours carry no flag meaning.
Provenance. Designed by Perushen Moodley; first shown in the 30 Years artwork.
A practical test
Small mark. Same idea.
Vector geometry stays sharp at every screen size.
04 / System
Built to belong in more than one place.
One identity.
Many expressions.
A consistent mark anchors the system. Colour, typography, imagery and language give each story its own register.
Rules
Consistency gives
the idea strength.
- Geometry
- Preserve the silhouette and the relationship between its parts.
- Clear space
- At least one stem-width on every side.
- Colour
- Four colours keep the parts distinct: purple and gold arms, a silver meeting space and a green stem. Gold highlights moments of arrival and action. The purple sits naturally in a jacaranda city; that is an observation about the place, and no flag meaning is attached.
- Reproduction
- Use the single-colour master file where production requires it.
The final identity system
The form carries the meaning.Colour keeps the paths distinct.
- Arms
- About 43° from vertical on each side, ≈86° apart; about 65–75 units wide (they taper).
- Stem
- 76 units wide, vertical, with a pointed terminal.
- Centre spacing
- Gaps of about 18–24 units keep the four forms separate.
- Negative space
- The silver triangle is a filled form, not a hole: the meeting space.
- Optical correction
- One reconstruction error corrected on 27 September 2026: the gold arm’s inner edge now matches the first raster artwork (overlap 97.9%). Nothing else is adjusted; the geometry is locked.
Measured on the master file (500 × 565 units), verified against the first raster artwork.
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Secondary lockupHeaders, banners, credentials.
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Vertical lockupBanners, pylons, covers, where the payoff appears nearby.
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MonochromeSingle-colour print, embroidery, engraving.
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Destination TshwaneFavicon and app icon96, 48 and 16 px.
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DESTINATION
TSHWANEMobile-scale mark28 px in an app header.
Brand colours · the four parts of the Y
Purple · left arm#553179Headings, dark grounds, continuity.
Gold · right arm#E9AE2CHighlights, arrival, calls to action.
Silver · meeting space#ABACAENeutral ground between the arms.
Green · stem#2D625CThe continuing path; secondary grounds.
Website colours
Deep purple#231148
Meeting cream#F6F1ED
Ink#15102B
The colours are functional choices for contrast and recognition, adopted from the original 30-year artwork and kept for contrast. No cultural or flag meaning is attached to them. Print specifications require proofing against the final vector master.
Brand architecture · proposed
- Master
- Destination Tshwane Y · WHERE WE MEET.
- Experiences
- Destination Tshwane | Nature, Wildlife, Family, Heritage, Diplomacy, Culture, Events, Nightlife, Business, Education, Food, Sport. One lockup, five colour families.
- Campaign lines
- Meet culture · Meet nature · Meet history · Meet wildlife · Meet the capital · Meet the night · Meet the people · Meet possibility. They extend the payoff; they never replace it.
- Partner endorsement
- “[Business name] · Part of Destination Tshwane”, used with permission
- Time-bound extensions
- 30 Years (2026). Sits beside the master, never instead of it.
Culture
Meet culture.
Wildlife
Meet wildlife.
Education
Meet possibility.
System · Commemorative template
Any civic anniversary · 30 Years shown
Any anniversary.
The master stays.
Commemorative template: how the master carries any civic anniversary. 30 Years is shown, marking three decades since South Africa’s Constitution was adopted in 1996; Presidents take the constitutional oath of office at the Union Buildings, which makes Tshwane a natural host. The numeral borrows the Y’s colours and clipped geometry and sits beside the Y, never instead of it. When an anniversary ends, the master carries on unchanged.
01 · Master identityPermanent. Never replaced.
02 · SystemColour and clipped geometry, shared.
03 · Anniversary expressionTemporary. Sits beside the Y, never instead of it.
The 30 Years artwork and the template built from it: the master Y, a traced numeral, the Destination Tshwane line and the payoff.
05 / Experiences
One brand, twelve experiences
One brand.
Twelve experiences.
Twelve experiences share one horizontal lockup, a silver divider and a category name in one of five colour families. No experience gets its own logo; a new category needs a name and a family, not a designer. In every piece the photograph leads and the brand signs off.
Tshwane first. Brand second.
Culture · everydayCafé friends under the jacarandas 
Local enterpriseA maker and her visitors 
FamilyA family picnic
Concept images
01 / 03
Visual campaign · application studies
One identity. Distinct invitations.
A place.
A reason to meet.
The same approved signature brings together civic architecture, the city’s jacarandas and heritage storytelling. Supporting illustrations give each invitation its own character.
Concept illustrations and layouts. The Y and lockup are placed from the approved vector artwork as separate elements.
06 / In the city
Concept mockups · final artwork files
From a mark
to a city system.
Transport, arrivals, signage, credentials, print and merchandise, each placed from the master files. See the full brand system.
01 / Outdoor campaignArrival, with a sense of place.
Concept mockupDestination Tshwane · Where we meet.
- 02 / City bus
The meeting moves with you.
Concept mockupDestination Tshwane · Where we meet.
03 / Hilux + Golf GTIA consistent presence.
Concept mockupDestination Tshwane · Where we meet.
04 / StationeryEvery detail belongs.
Concept mockupDestination Tshwane · Where we meet.
Swipe to explore · select an image to enlarge
01 / 04
Transport · liveryA city bus, one path system 
Arrival · wayfindingWelcome first, exit third 
WayfindingA monolith at Church Square 
DelegatesDelegate badge 
Visitor materialsThe pocket visitor guide 
StationeryLetterhead 
MerchandiseMade to be worn 
Public spaceThe meeting point
Production artwork at true size; vector PDFs in the submission pack.
01 / 08
07 / Economic role
Recognition that
opens doors.
The mark creates shared recognition. Its applications help visitors discover the people and businesses behind the destination.
The identity makes the destination recognisable. The platform turns that recognition into a next step that reaches a local business.
- VisitorRecognises the destination through the identity.
- ExperienceFinds a place, event or tour worth the trip.
- Local operatorA verified, named business behind it.
- Enquiry / bookingCounted separately. A click is not a sale.
- SpendReported only when the operator confirms it.
- Return visitInvited back, with consent.
Ask the destination.
Each question opens the visitor prototype. The first plans a day today; the rest are built in the pilot.
- “Six hours of nature and history, from 9am.”Working now · plans a day from four places
- “What’s happening today?”Pilot · needs a reviewed events feed
- “Activities for the family.”Pilot · needs age and facility data
- “Tours under R250.”Pilot · needs verified prices
- “Plan a weekend in Dinokeng.”Pilot · the prototype plans one day at a time
- “Where can I see the jacarandas?”Pilot · needs seasonal content
- “I have three hours before my flight.”Pilot · needs airport transfer times
A shared identity, local names.
A partner kit gives small operators usable signage, listing and event templates while keeping their own names visible. Participation criteria and permission govern use.
Every touchpoint has a next step.
Wayfinding and campaign materials point to a relevant operator, experience or current offer. Digital links and QR codes lead directly to useful information.
Measure adoption and referrals.
Test recognition, count active participating businesses and measure enquiries from campaign touchpoints. Do not present visual impressions as visitor spend.
How success is measured
- Prompted recognition of the mark, before and after
- Active participating operators
- Listings reviewed within 90 days
- Enquiries per campaign touchpoint
- Operator-confirmed visits
Rollout Validate 90-day pilot partner service transactions
08 / Adoption
A mark that connects.
A system that serves.
Why adopt it:
- One idea that fits every part of Tshwane.
- A mark with an open design record.
- A system partners can use under their own names.
- A working visitor prototype, not only a promise.
- A 90-day pilot measured by operator-confirmed results.