Say hello to our new logo
Corporate logos are everywhere. They are so prevalent and deceptively simple that we often don’t recognize that they are extraordinarily sophisticated little symbols that carry a disproportionate amount of communication responsibility. For good reason, logo design is an elite field of an already complex business; the brainiest of all graphic design. To quote legendary graphic designer Paul Rand:
The principal role of a logo is to identify, and simplicity is its means... Its effectiveness depends on distinctiveness, visibility, adaptability, memorability, universality, and timelessness.
That’s a tall order. It’s all about identity, and part of the process of rebuilding a museum like ours is to rebuild its identity. The logo is a key feature and becomes nearly as important as the design of the museum itself because the logo is often the first impression that people will get of it. If our sophisticated new museum has a logo that looks like it belongs on a box of breakfast cereal, we may have difficulty attracting an audience. Conversely, it is possible to have a logo that is too impressive, that promises too much. Mr. Rand speaks again:
A logo derives meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around.
In the case of our logo development, many questions needed to be answered. Does it reflect our content? Is it memorable? Is it unique? Will it work alongside the Bank of Canada logo? Does it evoke our building? Can it work in multiple sizes? Does it make me look fat? OK, that last one’s pretty low on the list, but all the demands made upon this humble little design are a bit mind-boggling.
This highly adaptable design can be tilted, shifted, stretched and overlaid in many different ways and colours for any number of uses.
And here it is. What do you think? Nice, eh? We like it. It’s a very flexible design and right now our graphics team is busy adapting it to a dozen different uses and formats. We believe it will serve us a long time and now we just have to make sure our new museum will be up to our logo’s standard. No problem there.
We want to hear from you! Do you have an idea for a blog post you’d like to see?
Content type(s):
Blog posts
The Museum Blog
June 11, 2020
Using a Bank of Canada Museum lesson plan, nearly 200 students told us who they thought should be the bank NOTE-able Canadian on our new $5 bill.
Nominating an Icon for the Next $5 Bank Note
By: Graham Iddon
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
History,
Social studies
Grade level(s):
Grade 06,
Grade 07 / Secondary 1,
Grade 08 / Secondary 2,
Grade 09 / Secondary 3,
Grade 10 / Secondary 4
May 5, 2020
Reid was on the verge of ruin, yet insisted on continuing railway construction. Suffering huge losses, and with no credit or cash resources, Reid issued wage notes to pay his employees.
The “Streak of Rust” and the King of Newfoundland
By: David Bergeron
Content type(s):
Blog posts
April 22, 2020
In January 2021, 17 of our old bank notes will lose their legal tender status—what does that mean?
Retired Cash
By: Graham Iddon
Content type(s):
Blog posts
March 30, 2020
There’s little doubt that the BCP45 is lovingly preserved today partly thanks to being immortalized on this beautiful blue five-dollar bill.
The Fisher, the Photographer and the Five
By: Graham Iddon
Content type(s):
Blog posts
