South Sudan’s Independence Day was set for only six months after the referendum that established the new country’s independence from Sudan. In that short time state symbols had to be proposed, refined, adopted and promulgated to a country still torn by internal conflict.
From an outsider’s point of view, there is nothing remarkable about the design of the South Sudan coat of arms. It is formulaic, a non-design design, its eagle-shield-cartouche combination so commonplace that it looks ready-made, the graphic design equivalent of an instant meal: just add flag. (…) For a population so determined to separate itself from the north, South Sudan chose a design that is essentially a reinterpretation of the Sudanese coat of arms.