Emblem of ASEAN

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Emblem of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Seal of ASEAN.svg
Alternative nameThe ASEAN Emblem
Adopted1979 (original emblem)
1997 (current iteration)
Shield Set upon a red circle background, ten yellow paddy or rice stalks are drawn in the middle. Under the rice stalks the organisation name abbreviation "asean" is written in lower case Helvetica font in blue. The red circle is drawn with a white and blue circumference.

The Emblem of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, also known as the ASEAN Emblem or ASEAN Logo, is the emblem of ASEAN adopted in 1979.

Contents

The current iteration was adopted on 31 May 1997 together with the ASEAN flag. [1]

History

The ASEAN emblem traces its roots from the logo designed by Mohammad Radzi Hanif of Malaysia. That logo was a winning entry of a design competition held from 1977 to 1978, when Hanif was still a design student at the MARA Institute of Technology (now Universiti Teknologi MARA) in Shah Alam, Selangor. ASEAN at the time still had five members. [2] The ASEAN logo was adopted in 1979. [3]

The logo was based on a sheaf of paddy, or specifically the result of the practice of farmers of reaping and binding called segemal padi in Malay. [2]

The current logo was adopted on 31 May 1997 alongside the current flag, the same year which Laos and Myanmar became ASEAN members. [4] [5] Priorly, a design competition was held for a new logo with five winning entries picked among 3,000 entries. However, ASEAN opted to just increase the number of stalks in the emblem to ten. [6]

Design

Construction

Set upon a red circle background, ten yellow paddy or rice stalks are drawn in the middle. Under the rice stalks the organisation name abbreviation 'asean' is written in lowercase bold Helvetica font in blue. The red circle is drawn with a white and blue circumference.

The colours of the emblem are specified as follows:

SchemeBlueRedYellowWhite
Pantone Pantone 286Pantone Red 032Pantone Process YellowPlain White
RGB Approx.#0032A0 [7] #EF3340 [8] #F8E600 [9] #FFFFFF
CMYK Approx.100, 80, 0, 12 [7] 0, 90, 76, 0 [8] 0, 0, 100, 0 [9] 0, 0, 0, 0

Symbolism

As per the ASEAN Guidelines adopted in 2010 set at the 6th Meeting of the ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC), the ASEAN emblem represents a stable, peaceful, united and dynamic ASEAN. [10]

  1. The colours of the Emblem – blue, red, white and yellow – represent the main colours of the state crests of all the ASEAN Member States.
  2. Blue represents peace and stability, red depicts courage and dynamism, white shows purity and yellow symbolises prosperity.
  3. The ten bound stalks of rice in the centre of the Emblem represent the member states of ASEAN [a] . They represent the dream of ASEAN's Founding Fathers for an ASEAN comprising all the countries in Southeast Asia, bound together in friendship and solidarity.
  4. The circle represents the unity of ASEAN.

The paddy stalk as originally designed by Mohammad Radzi Hanif represents ASEAN unity and was used as a motif since rice is a major staple in Southeast Asia. The logo originally designed in yellow ochre evokes "mature paddy" envisioning that ASEAN member states can only grow by depending on each other. [2]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ All ten member states of ASEAN the time of the emblem's adaptation. Timor-Leste has since joined ASEAN in October 2025.

References

  1. ↑ Flags of the World
  2. 1 2 3 The Story Behind the ASEAN Logo – An Interview with the Designer Mohammad Radzi Hanif. ASEAN Foundation. 8 August 2020. Archived from the original on 1 May 2023 – via YouTube.
  3. ↑ "Birth of a Flag". The Straits Times. p. 12. Retrieved 26 October 2025. The 5 members of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) picked this logo to represent their group. Designed by Malaysian Mohamed Radzi Hanif, 25, a Mara Institute of Technology graduate, it won an Asean-wide contest in 1979.(subscription required)
  4. ↑ "Guidelines for the ASEAN Flag & Logo". ASEAN Main Portal. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
  5. ↑ "Special logo for 30th anniversary gets approval". New Straits Times. 26 July 1997. p. 3. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
  6. ↑ "Asean having trouble finding the right tune". The Nation . 4 October 1997. p. A4. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
  7. 1 2 "PANTONE® 286 C – Find a Pantone Color | Quick Online Color Tool | Pantone". 12 May 2021. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  8. 1 2 "PANTONE® Red 032 C – Find a Pantone Color | Quick Online Color Tool | Pantone". 16 September 2021. Archived from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  9. 1 2 "PANTONE® Process Yellow C – Find a Pantone Color | Quick Online Color Tool | Pantone". 27 July 2021. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  10. ↑ "Guidelines on the Use of the ASEAN Emblem". ASEAN Main Portal. ASEAN. Archived from the original on 31 October 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
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