Jony Ive’s LoveFrom designed a new Astra Carta seal for King Charles

Jony Ive and his team at LoveFrom have made a new design for King Charles III called the “Astra Carta” seal. The seal is meant to represent the UK’s call to action for public and private sectors to work together on responsible and sustainable use of outer space. It marks his second project for King Charles this year after LoveFrom made a royal emblem to herald the King’s recent coronation earlier.

The seal, which is animated on the sustainability initiative’s official site, is a circular badge with the all-caps Latin words “ASTRA CARTA” planted in the middle beneath a crown. In the center, a blue dot represents the planet Earth, while constellations, the Sun, the Moon, and the flowery path taken by Venus surround it. Around the outside edge, smaller text reads, “To care for the infinite wonders of the universe,” paired with a Latin interpretation of the same phrase.

Ive described his team’s approach to the design in a blurb from the site:

“We were fascinated by the celestial rhythms that were illuminated during this design process, and how they are profoundly connected to the patterns of life on Earth. This feels a crucial time to do more to protect the natural world in the broadest sense, and we are deeply honoured to have been able to contribute to this important and pioneering project.”

In typical fashion, LoveFrom discusses in detail on the site how it arrived at this design, breaking down sections of the work to show how it arrived at the overall image. As part of that, it shows a flowery “sacred geometry” of swirls and lines that, at first glance, might remind one of that famously overwrought “Pepsi energy fields” design document, except that the path of Venus it draws its inspiration from is a real thing and actually makes sense in this context:

It’s not the simplicity we’ve come to expect from Ive-led projects like iOS 7, but his work here is consistent with designs like the Terra Carta seal the group created for the initiative in 2021, again highlighting sustainable business practices in the country. There, the group sought to “reinforce the sense of harmony and fertility, allowing flora and fauna to gently take control,” resulting in something more elaborate than Ive is typically known for, an ornateness that has a throughline in this series of seals.