When a new European project starts, one of the first collective tasks is to find a visual identity that everyone can recognise and use. For DebateCiti – “Debate as an Informed Citizenship Practice”, the Erasmus+ KA210-SCH partnership led by Hubruzzo – Fondazione Industria Responsabile – this process was deliberately entrusted to those at the heart of the project: the students of the partner schools.

During the first transnational project meeting, the partners closed the preparatory phase of a logo contest and officially selected the image that will represent DebateCiti throughout its 18 months and beyond.

From idea to brief: a logo contest for four countries

In the weeks leading up to the first meeting, each partner school launched the same challenge to its students: design a logo that captures what DebateCiti stands for.

The brief was simple and demanding at the same time. The logo had to:

• Express the link between debate, fact-checking, and informed citizenship

• Reflect the European dimension and shared democratic values

• Work well in both digital and print formats, at very small sizes

• Be understandable across languages and cultural contexts

Art clubs, debate clubs, ICT classes, and civic education groups all contributed. Students combined graphic skills with the key concepts they already associate with responsible citizenship: critical thinking, listening, and respect for different viewpoints.

Each school organised an internal pre-selection round, involving teachers and students together. Four finalist logos – one per country – were then sent to the international project team, ready to be discussed during the first transnational meeting.

The first transnational meeting: choosing together

The first in-person meeting of DebateCiti was a working space on media literacy, online research, and fact-checking. Alongside the training modules, one dedicated session focused on the logo contest.

Project coordinators, teacher-coaches, and student representatives analysed the four finalist proposals using clear criteria:

• Coherence with the project’s objectives and Erasmus+ values

• Clarity and readability on screens, printed materials, and certificates

• Ability to communicate “debate + critical information analysis” at a glance

• Balance between creativity and professional, institutional use

Students’ voices were an integral part of the process. Each partner collected feedback from their own debate clubs in advance, and this input was brought into the selection session. The final decision combined this student feedback with the assessment of the international project team.

At the end of the session, the partnership agreed on one winning proposal that all partners can recognise as their own.

The winning logo: a shared European stage for debate

The selected logo, created by a student team from one of the partner schools, brings together all the core dimensions of DebateCiti in a single, clear image. Inside a circular frame, the left side is filled with a dynamic composition of the partner countries’ flags, including the Slovenian coat of arms, symbolising diversity, cooperation, and the European context in which the project takes place. On the right, against a clean white background, stand the Erasmus+ emblem and the project title “Debate as an Informed Citizenship Practice”, signalling the institutional framework and educational purpose of our work. At the bottom centre, cutting across the circle, a modern debate podium with two microphones and the word “DebateCiti” represents a structured, open space where different voices can confront each other on an equal footing. The strong blue and green tones link the logo visually to the Erasmus+ identity, while the overall composition suggests exactly what the project wants to build: a European stage where informed, responsible citizens learn to debate based on facts rather than polarisation. 

Students as co-creators of DebateCiti’s identity

The logo contest was more than a graphic exercise. It acted as a first, concrete laboratory of participation for the young people involved in DebateCiti.

• Students worked in teams, negotiated ideas, and defended their design choices with arguments – exactly the skills the project aims to strengthen.

• Teachers used the brief as an opportunity to revisit key concepts such as European values, media literacy, and democratic dialogue.

• All four finalist logos will be showcased in a dedicated gallery on the project website and during dissemination events, giving visibility to the creative work of students in Belgium, Italy, Lithuania, and Slovenia.

By entrusting the visual identity to the learners, the partnership has turned them from simple “participants” into co-authors of the project.

From meeting room to everyday use

With the logo now officially adopted, DebateCiti will display it consistently across all communication channels and activities:

• The project website and social media channels

• The Ebook Toolkit on debate and media literacy

• Debate club materials, certificates, and local events in each partner school

• Transnational training meetings, online workshops, and the final debate tournament

Every time the logo appears, it will recall the collective process that produced it: four schools, one foundation, and dozens of students working together to give a clear, recognisable face to informed, democratic debate in Europe.