THE PUP LOGO

PUPs star-shaped logo is a simplified adoption from Leonardo da Vinci’s famous drawing, The Proportions of the Human Figure, otherwise known as The Vitruvian Man. The term Vitruvian is taken from Vitruvius, a Roman architect in 100 AD, who developed a relational system of measurement of the parts of the human body. He theorized that the height of a well-proportioned man is the same as the span of his outstretched arms. He also wrote that the human body is a kind of symmetrical harmony, just so with a perfect building. This harmony applied to all other parts of the body as well, and, he concluded that it was by employing these proportions that the famous craftsmen of civilization tried to achieve beauty, social order, and perfection of humanity.

In the human body the central point is naturally the navel, for if a man be placed flat on his back, with his hands and feet extended, and a pair of compasses centered at his navel, the fingers and toes of his two hands and feet will touch the circumference of a circle. To illustrate this, Vitruvius showed a man standing with outstretched arms and feet within a circle; and another with his arms apart, in a square, with the navel as center, which is considered the Golden Section.

In the star-shaped PUP logo, the Golden Section is the center of the five concentric circles zeroing in on the mid-point of the PUP star logo. The five concentric circles represent infinite wisdom and each point of the star signifies integrity, ingenuity, industry, intelligence and internationalism – the core values of PUP as a Total University. The Golden Section produces five proportionate points representing the crown or the head, two outstretched arms and feet within a square. This provides the basic proportional relationship of the parts to the whole which can be measured or seen at a glance. Constancy of interrelationship and harmonic divisibility are the fundamental qualities of a proportion.

Leonardo da Vinci advocated the idea that one needs a sense of proportion in order to understand the relationship of any part to the whole; and when one looks at anything, one must look for a way of relating a smaller part to the whole. The fact remains that proportion is the best way of making judgments about the relationship of a part to the whole.

The PUP logo advocates the renaissance man’s idea of understanding the relationship of any part to the whole. This logo serves as a constant reminder to all future generations in the community of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines that from the ancient times the flowering of ideas from the Golden Section stimulates proportionate economy, social justice, truth and beauty which will eventually preserve and protect a stable political destiny of the Filipino people. Thus, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines’ star logo becomes a symbol of light for the entire nation. – S.C. DIZON