Speak­ing Out About the Canada 150 Logo

In prepa­ra­tion for Canada’s 150th birth­day in 2017, the Cana­dian govern­ment has called on students to design the Canada 150 Logo. The compe­ti­tion is a highly contentious issue in the design commu­nity.

On Global Toronto’s Janu­ary 19th news broad­cast Stuart Ash, designer of Canada’s centen­nial logo and founder of Gottschalk+Ash, spoke out about the prob­lems of conduct­ing a design contest in this way. Essen­tially, the govern­ment is getting “some­thing for noth­ing.” Stuart’s centen­nial logo design is testa­ment to the energy, research and collab­o­ra­tion that contributes to impact­ful and long-lasting design. (The news segment can be viewed here.)

As a trib­ute to the centen­nial logo we have recre­ated the entire graphic stan­dards manual, initially created in 1966. Within the next few months we will be reprint­ing copies of the manual for anyone inter­ested in owning their own copy. More details to come.

Entro’s views on the current Canada 150 Logo Design Contest and back­ground infor­ma­tion on Canada’s centen­nial logo are expressed at the follow­ing http://entro.com/canada150logo/.