Jakarta. Designed by a young Filipino graphic designer, Asean's new blooming flower logo represents a new spirit for the bloc in 2020 and a greater sense of belonging.

Officially launched on Tuesday, the ten-petal flower logo was the winner of the Logo Design Competition for Asean Youths. It will be used in high-profile Asean events throughout 2020.

Announced in September last year, the competition attracted 1,378 submissions from all Asean member states. The whole event was organized by the Asean-German Cooperation, the brainchild of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit.

"This year we want to raise public awareness of the Asean identity and its programs. The logo design competition was a way to generate more public discussions about what Asean stands for, particularly among young people," Kung Phoak, the deputy secretary-general of Asean Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC), said at the Asean Secretariat in South Jakarta on Tuesday.

A 2018 poll found that 96 percent of people in Asean member states were aware of the bloc's existence. However, fewer than one-third possessed knowledge of the community and its three pillars – the Asean Political-Security Community, Asean Economic Community (AEC) and ASCC.

"The word 'identity' is a terminology often used in Asean, but we have never properly defined it. The Asean identity narrative should be a self-reminder of who we are, where we came from and where we are heading both as a community and an organization," ASCC director Riaz Saehu said.

Filipino graphic designer and competition winner Joemari Manguiat came up with the concept of a blooming flower in three different colors to represent the three pillars and the commonalities between Asean member states.

The red petals represent the Asean member states with the color red on their flags – Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam. The blue petals symbolize the flags of the remaining member states – Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. The smatter of yellow symbolizes prosperity and purity.

The two runner-up designs were a bouquet of flowers by Swumm Htet Naing from Myanmar and a diamond-shaped design by Mohammad Firdaus from Malaysia.

"For Asean to prosper, we need to have one common identity. We need our young people to step forward and play roles in our programs. Not only by taking part in competitions, but also through face-to-face meetings," Asean Foundation executive director Yang Mee Eng said.