Two Courts of Audit in focus: content and design compared

The Netherlands Court of Audit is a High College of the State and, as such, has been an independent body for nearly 550 years. As the premier institution for auditing government expenditure, the Court of Audit strives for the lawful and efficient use of taxpayers' money. The functions of the Court of Audit in the Netherlands and Austria are similar, in contrast to the design of both anniversary stamps. Take a look and compare the impact of both stamps. General Audit Chamber In the audit of financial management, the concepts of lawfulness and efficiency (3rd & 4th line on the stamp) are important assessment requirements. These two criteria have therefore literally been given a central place on the informative text stamp. Graphic designer Irma Boom with her Court of Audit stamp (nvph 1725) The first four lines of this typographic stamp are striking. Based on the ten-letter starting word *REKENKAMER*, the other lines have also been squeezed into the strict framework using an equal number of symbols (letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and the abbreviation '&'). In other words, consistency abounds! * To emphasize the central oversight function of the Court of Audit in the fifth line, the 'equals sign' has been given extra space. As a result, the placement of this sentence allows it to largely fall in step with the rest. The equals sign is of crucial importance to the oversight function. A team of civil servants checks whether the financial management conducted and the annual financial accountability are in accordance with legal regulations. Simply put: 80 cents must remain 80 cents after verification. * By using the apostrophe next to the year, this line has also been made to fit within the framework of consistency. * In the sixth line, the nine-letter country name (in slightly bolder typography) once again fits entirely within the strict framework. * The uniformity of the number of characters and their arrangement in six lines gives this business-like stamp a clearly organized and clear character. * A great deal of consistency can also be observed in the color scheme of the text. Everything is executed in shades of gray with a tendency towards blue, purple, and green. One color stands out significantly from the other symbols, namely the ochre yellow for the comma and the equals sign. Graphic designer Irma Boon: “Both are important in arithmetic operations, hence a different color, but not a striking one. The wrong placement of a decimal point can have a major impact!” A tendency towards blue, purple, and green in the typography is difficult to detect, but given the colors black, red, and yellow on the sheet margin, these colors appear to be present. On the original stamp, however, faint color nuances can be discovered in the typography using a magnifying glass. * On this rationally ordered typographic stamp, everything is calculated, straightforward, and designed without frills or ornamentation. Nothing is left to chance. * This clarity, transparency, and lucidity are the necessary and characteristic concepts of work in financial investigation and auditing. In other words, the clean typography provides us with abstract insight into the qualities that civil servants—accountants, lawyers, political scientists, and sociologists—working at the Court of Audit must possess and apply. * As a point of interest, it should also be mentioned that, due to the 'numerical aspect' of the audit function, the Court of Audit did not wish to be identified with numbers on the stamp image. The black-and-white maximum card (stamped on May 27, 1997 in The Hague) refers to the final colorful preliminary draft, in which the Dutch numerical accounting system has been placed alongside its mirror image. Verification result? Indeed, it is spot on. This stamp will not score high marks in terms of attractiveness. Nor did the designer strive for this, as the Court of Audit institution does not possess a charming or interesting appeal to an outsider. To the masses, it has an unattractive, dry, and barren image. The design is therefore in accordance with the subject matter, both in letter and spirit. Both stamps relate to the Courts of Audit of the Netherlands and Germany. The same subject, therefore, but the design of both stamps is executed completely differently. The attractively designed building on the Austrian jubilee stamp '200 Jahre Österreichischer Rechnungshof' (1961) gives you absolutely no substantive insight (unlike the Dutch stamp with interesting internal info) into the activities of the Court of Audit in Austria.*) On foreign stamps, the characteristic activities of the Court of Audit subject would never have been depicted in such a compelling manner. In Austria, for example, they limit themselves to a nondescript substantive appearance, such as a classicist building housing the Court of Audit. The Dutch approach to design is one of the distinctive and attractive differences between Dutch stamps and those from other countries.