There’s a bit of drama surrounding Canada’s 150th birthday celebration.
And it’s all about the logo.
Some people aren’t too happy that the federal Department of Canadian Heritage decided to reach out only to students to create a logo commemorating Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017.
A 19-year-old University of Waterloo student, Ariana Cuvin, ended up designing the winning logo – and taking home the accompanying $5,000 cash prize that she’ll put towards tuition. It’s a pretty massive deal for the global business and digital arts student.
But it’s overshadowed by the anger from some graphic designers, who aren’t too pleased that the government steered clear from using professional, paid, submissions from seasoned people in the industry. Many believe that it undermines the profession and is the equivalent to turning to an unpaid intern.
Given the importance of the event (Canada doesn’t turn 150 every day), they assert that a professional design professional or team really should have been used.
To prove their point that the industry pros produce better work, some graphic designers created Canada 150 logos anyway and posted them online. Of course, this didn’t change the fact that their work didn’t qualify for the contest.
As for Cuvin, her multi-coloured design is inspired by the iconic maple leaf; the base of the leaf has four diamonds to represent the four provinces that formed Confederation in 1867, with nine more that expand outwards to signify our current country of 10 provinces and three territories.
What do you think of the design and the way the Department of Canadian Heritage went about deciding on it?
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