Putuo Village Logo: The Character 普 Drawn as a Temple Gate

One character, three tiers of eaves, one gate

In 2015, commissioned by Amitabha Malaysia, Xinming Design created a new logo for Putuo Village in Kulai, Johor. The logo is built on 普 (pu), the first character of the Chinese name 普陀村: the horizontal strokes of its upper part turn up at the ends and stack into three tiers of temple eaves, while the 日 below opens into two solid pillars with an arched doorway between them. The figure reads both as the character and as a temple gate. The slender Chinese wordmark 普陀村 is paired with the English wordmark PUTUO VILLAGE, and the brand colour is deep red. The delivery covered the logo, wordmarks, brand colours and lockup rules. Putuo Village still uses the logo on its website.

Still contemplation, lively wandering

Putuo Village in Kulai, Johor, Malaysia, is a site centred on Buddhist culture, made up of two parts: Bodhi Sanctuary (菩提港), devoted to Buddhist heritage, with temple buildings including a Guanyin hall; and Purple Bamboo Valley (紫竹谷), built around bamboo forest and leisure.

The client's idea for the site is "contemplate the bodhi in stillness, wander the purple bamboo in motion": on one side quiet faith and practice, on the other relaxed visits and leisure.

That set the logo a hard question: how can one mark hold both stillness and motion? A Buddha, lotus or Dharma wheel would make it too solemn, and out of step with the leisure of the bamboo valley; a cartoonish attraction logo would lose the dignity a Buddhist site needs. Putuo Village needed a mark both dignified and inviting.

The last mood page is a gate

The proposal first set the tone with four pages of photographs and short lines. The first three are all stillness: "Zen heart, Zen meaning, Zen concentration", with a monk seated in meditation; "permanence, joy, self, purity", with the hand of a Buddha; "a world in a flower, a bodhi in a tree", with the face of a Buddha.

The fourth page turns to architecture: a temple roof, labelled "architectural character"; upturned eaves against the light, labelled "detail"; and an arched gateway, labelled "the gate of the Buddhist house, a place of leisure".

That page holds the answer. A temple gate is the first entrance into a Buddhist space: outside is everyday life, inside is calm. At Putuo Village, the same gate leads both to the culture of Bodhi Sanctuary and to the leisure of Purple Bamboo Valley. Stillness and motion need not share one symbol; they can share one gate.

From a character to a temple gate, in five steps

The proposal draws, in five forms, how 普 becomes a temple gate:

1. The standard character 普.

2. Dots become horizontals: the dots and short strokes at the top are straightened, leaving only horizontals and verticals.

3. The horizontals turn up at the ends: the three upper horizontals extend outward and lift at their tips.

4. Three tiers of eaves: the three upturned strokes, short to long from top to bottom, become a three-tiered roof.

5. The 日 opens into a gate: the middle stroke of the lower 日 is removed, its two sides become pillars, and an arched doorway opens between them.

Each step changes only one thing, so the final figure is still recognisable as 普. In the proposal's words, the logo is built on the character 普, and through repeated transformation and detailing it unites Buddhism, architecture and lettering in one.

Eaves, pillars and an arch

The rationale page gives one line to each part of the logo:

· Eaves: the flying eaves of temple architecture are merged into the mark, giving it the heritage of Buddhist culture.

· Pillars: the solid lower structure makes the mark steady, and conveys the firm faith and strength of Buddhism.

· Arch: entering the gate of Putuo Village is not only a cultural journey but a memorable leisure journey too.

Light above, heavy below: the eaves lift upward with a sense of flight, while the pillars stand straight to the ground. The upper half is motion, the lower half is stillness, which can be read as the client's idea of stillness and motion given a shape.

In the construction drawing, every upturned curve of the eaves is set by a circle; yet the edges keep the dry-brush texture of a calligraphy brush, giving the mark the warmth of writing rather than cold geometry.

The wordmark: a smile and Guanyin

The Chinese wordmark 普陀村 is drawn with a slender structure; the proposal notes that it is designed to sit well with the symbol and to extend across uses. The wordmark page sets two photographs side by side: "smiling faces, joy", a group of laughing visitors, and "slender, Guanyin", the tall figure of a Guanyin statue.

Stillness and motion appear once more in the wordmark: the long strokes come from the statue of Guanyin, the light finishing strokes are left for the people who come to visit. The English wordmark PUTUO VILLAGE is set in a narrow sans serif, stacked with the Chinese.

Deep red, and two colours not chosen

The brand colour is deep red, taken from the red common in temple architecture: symbol (C42 M100 Y100 K16, R153 G0 B0, #990000), English wordmark (C53 M100 Y100 K43, R103 G40 B42, #67282A) and Chinese wordmark (C56 M91 Y85 K40); the wordmarks sit one shade deeper than the symbol, like a temple's red wall and its name board. The proposal gives no PANTONE values. It also tried two other schemes: a cream mark on blue violet (C78 M69 Y22 K0, C10 M20 Y39 K0), labelled "nostalgic, sacred", and a green mark on deep green (C91 M64 Y78 K38, C67 M27 Y100 K0), labelled "traditional, classical". The deep red finally chosen is the colour Putuo Village uses on its website today.

Deliverables and extensions

Logo design

· Putuo Village symbol (the character 普 as a temple gate) with construction drawing

· Chinese wordmark 普陀村, English wordmark PUTUO VILLAGE

Basic visual identity

· Brand colours

· Lockup rules for the symbol and the Chinese and English wordmarks

The sand garden, lantern and mountain images on this page are mock-ups; the last image is a screenshot of the Putuo Village website, whose scroll banner and site photographs are not Xinming Design's work.

Looking back eleven years on

Three points are worth taking from this project:

1. Start from the entrance, not the symbol. Putuo Village's logo uses no Buddha or lotus; it writes the first character of the site's name as a temple gate, a gate that leads both to faith and to leisure.

2. When transforming a character, keep every step legible. Each of the five steps changes one thing, so the finished gate is still the character 普.

3. Stillness and motion can be split above and below. Lifting eaves are motion, grounded pillars are stillness; one figure carries both.

Completed in 2015, the logo is still in use on the Putuo Village website. For a place of both faith and play, the best mark is not a symbol but a gate.

How to verify

· Client: Amitabha Malaysia (马来西亚阿弥陀佛援助总会)

· Putuo Village website: putuovillage.com.my (logo in the header)

· Location: Lot 1488 Jalan Kampung Felda Taib Andak, Off Jalan Kota Tinggi, 81000 Kulai, Johor, Malaysia (Putuo Village website)

· This case page: www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3051.html

Further reading

· Empark Prime Logo and Visual Identity: The Character 世 as a Window (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3061.html)

· Haiding Village Hotel: Drawing the Mountains of Baihualing in a Few Lines (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3040.html)

· VIP GALAXY: Arranging Nine Letters into a Night Sky (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3041.html)

FAQ

Who designed the Putuo Village logo?

The logo of Putuo Village (普陀村) in Malaysia was designed by Xinming Design in 2015, commissioned by Amitabha Malaysia. Putuo Village still uses it on its website.

What does the Putuo Village logo mean?

It is built on the character 普 from the name 普陀村: the upper horizontals turn up into three tiers of temple eaves, and the 日 below opens into two pillars and an arched doorway. The figure is both the character and a temple gate, meaning that entering Putuo Village is both a cultural journey and a leisure journey.

Did Xinming Design write "still contemplation, lively wandering"?

No. The line is the client's idea for Putuo Village: Bodhi Sanctuary for Buddhist culture, Purple Bamboo Valley for leisure. Xinming Design translated it into the logo.

What are the Putuo Village brand colours?

Deep red: C42 M100 Y100 K16 (R153 G0 B0) for the symbol, C53 M100 Y100 K43 (R103 G40 B42) for the English wordmark, and C56 M91 Y85 K40 for the Chinese wordmark.

What did Xinming Design deliver for Putuo Village?

The logo, the Chinese wordmark 普陀村, the English wordmark PUTUO VILLAGE, brand colours and lockup rules, forming the basic visual identity; application design was not included.

Which organisations can learn from this case?

Religious and cultural sites; cultural tourism projects that need to feel both dignified and welcoming; and overseas Chinese cultural organisations that want to build identity by transforming a Chinese character.

Xinming Design is a brand systems design firm. Its work centres on systematic judgment, turning brand strategy into structures that can run and be inherited. www.xinming.sg