By Norshazlina Nor’azman
PETALING JAYA (Bernama) — Shahnan Abdullah was sitting in his chair one evening in 1975, fiddling with a teleprinter tape.
He was planning on entering a logo creating competition for the Malaysian National News Agency (BERNAMA), the deadline for which was just a week away. The prize was lucrative.
Never did he think that the logo he created with a teleprinter tape would become an iconic symbol of the national news agency and would remain so, even 42 years later.
HOW IT CAME TO BE
The competition was held from Feb 15 to April 30, 1975. Its cash prize of RM1,000 drew the participation of 264 contestants nationwide.
BERNAMA did not have a logo prior to the competition. Instead, what the news agency had was simply the word “Bernama” in bold, orange letters.
Shahnan, who at the time was a 38-year-old Assistant Design Illustrator at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), came up with the winning design after learning that BERNAMA used the teleprinter as a medium for disseminating news.
He then asked for a typist’s help to type out the word “BERNAMA” several times on the teleprinter tape as part of his design. Coincidentally, DBP at the time had a teletypewriter that used a similar tape.
On the tape, the word BERNAMA appeared in encoded text, which looked like a pattern of holes punched into the tape.
“The dotted pattern on the BERNAMA logo is not a meaningless pattern, as some might think. Those who can read teleprinter code would see that it read ‘BERNAMA’,” he told BERNAMA in an interview in conjunction with the news agency’s Golden Anniversary celebration, happening in May.
Johor-born Shahnan, who would be turning 80 on April 17, said after fashioning the punched tape into the letter “B”, he pasted it onto a black paper.
“After folding it, I managed to fashion it into the letter B. I pasted it onto a paper and reversed it so that the black part would become white and vice versa.
“I was satisfied with the result and with time running out, I promptly delivered my entry to BERNAMA, which at the time was (located) at Jalan Syed Putra,” he recalled.
He had hoped that he would win but admitted that competition was stiff. Furthermore, he doubted his chances as his entry was sent at the last minute.
PRIDE
A month later, he received a call from BERNAMA notifying him that he had won. He was asked to come down to the news agency.
He met up with the then General Manager of BERNAMA, the late (Tan Sri) Dol Ramli and they discussed on a different colour and the addition of the word “BERNAMA” below the logo created.
Blue was the colour proposed by Bernama and it was agreed upon by Shahnan.
“I asked why my design was chosen, and I was told that it reflected the medium of transmission used by BERNAMA at the time. Although nearly all the entries used the letter B, none were like mine. I was truly lucky.
“After further discussion on the arrangement of the logo, I then retouched the artwork to look like what it does today,” he said.
Shahnan feels an overwhelming pride that BERNAMA chose to retain its logo for 42 years, at a time when other media giants have opted to trade in theirs for fresher designs.
His family feels the same too.
“Every time my grandchild sees the BERNAMA logo, she would point to it and say, ‘You designed that, right?'” he said.
The father of three, however, understood that BERNAMA might one day change the logo to reflect the changing times, but hoped that the agency would retain the uniqueness of the current logo.
“I would of course hope that the logo I designed would remain for a longer time so that my great-grandchildren would be able to see it too. But it is not wrong to update it to keep up with the times,” he said.
NOT COMPUTER-SAVVY
The logo designing competition was not the first that he entered, but it was the first that he won. He, however, had won several poster-designing competitions for various agencies.
The RM1,000 cash prize, however, was the most lucrative prize he had won.
Shahnan was also the designer behind the Road Transport Department’s logo. However, the design was created free of charge.
“I like to play with colours when designing posters and working with typography. The right combination is important because even a good design can become drowned out by the wrong choice of colours,” he said.
Shahnan had never used a computer throughout his career. All his designs were created manually.
He had even made books without the help of computers. Everything is done by hand, from drawing the cover design to measuring and labelling each page.
“Believe it or not, I did not even know how to turn on a computer. If I needed to use a computer, I would ask for the help of designers who knew how to use one. As for me, everything was designed freehand.
“From the heading of a page to the numbering, everything was done manually. Everything had to tally. It can be quite maddening.
“Once, when designing a calendar for DBP, I had to paste the dates manually, one by one. There are no templates like those we have today,” he said.
PASSION IN DRAWING
Although he had long retired, his interest in drawing and graphic design has never waned.
In fact, his second child, Shahida, revealed that the birthday cards he made for his children every year would be handmade.
“The words would be beautifully handwritten and it would be decorated with stickers and other handmade embellishments. He does this every year without fail.
Even now, the octogenarian would still accept orders for card designs so that he would have the opportunity to engage in his passion.
“I did not really like drawing in school. In fact I was expelled from school in Form 2 because I was so naughty. Who would have guessed that I actually had a hidden talent? I only started drawing when I was 17 years old.
“I did a number of odd jobs at the same time but my illustrations landed me a job in Singapore at the age of 22, thanks to a Caucasian man who saw potential in it,” he revealed.
Eleven years later, he joined DBP as an illustrator. He would then serve the company for 22 years before retiring from his position as a senior graphic designer.
BERNAMA
