The present works aims to investigate locals governments recurring practice of replacing their official visual identities, especially Rio de Janeiro s, and to study the relations between politics, design and identity. Through an applied exploratory research, it intends to contextualize the concepts of community, identity and material language in contemporary visual identity. Thereafter, a field research is made intending to analyze the different visual identities used by Rio de Janeiro s local government since its foundation in 1975. Thus, the research is subdivided in three parts. Firstly, we propose a discussion on contemporary identity, seeking to emphasize the construction of community and forms of social grouping. Approaching the discussion on design, we present the concept of the pedagogy of things, in relation to both identity as a consumer item and the image within the construction of an identity Secondly, we enter the image universe, discussing design as a form of political expression and corporative visual identity. Thus, we present a study and documental analysis of historical landmarks, exemplifying different applications of identities in other cities in Brazil and other countries. Thirdly, we unfold the research in its definitive perspective: the visual identity of Rio de Janeiro, through a historical documentary survey of its application, since the adoption of an official citys coat of arms in the sixteenth century until the municipal administration started in 2017. We also analyze the present identity used by the current government (2017-2020), remade three times in its first year. Finally, we will present the methodology we used for the field research in conjunction with analysis and the interpretation of its results.