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Beg to Differ

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You are here: Home / Format of post / Branding Advice / Simple. Classic. Canada’s Olympic team gets a new (old) logo.

Simple. Classic. Canada’s Olympic team gets a new (old) logo.

June 14, 2011 // Dennis Van Staalduinen 2 Comments

I’m often critical of Canada’s efforts at country branding, look but in this case one of our national flag-bearing agencies nailed it. Totally.

The trickiest thing about truly great logo design is not to have your symbol say a lot. That’s easy, ambulance just layer element upon element upon element like the Canadian Olympic Committee’s logo (at right). The trick is to say only the right things to earn recognition and trust, sale then provide a memorable impression that your audience will take home with them.

The Committee logo is a classic example of over-layering, with the fussy little flame, arched French and English, and redundant maple leaves. This neither connects or inspires. Sadly, the Committee is keeping their logo, but the brand management folks have been wise enough to make the distinction between the organization (i.e the Committee) and the team (i.e. the athletes – or, the thing that people actually care about).

The new logo is a simple badge that I’d want on my arm if I were an athlete. And the rest of the design system is an elegant complement to the iconic logo. You can read more about it here.

Or check out the nicely toned video introducing the new system:

Go Canada!

Filed Under: Branding Advice

Comments

  1. James Welsh says

    June 15, 2011 at 7:08 am

    Had one of those t-shirts back in ’76. The logo is ok, retro is always a safe bet. I much prefer the interesting take on the maple leaf but — maybe I missed it — I’m left wondering where that will be applied. Did you nitice Dennis Kim had his name up there 3 times? Was this Canada Branding or Dennis Kim branding? Go Dennis!

    Reply
  2. Maria Hayes says

    July 12, 2011 at 1:05 pm

    Great post with nice explanation regarding the logo design and color selection. This is more important while designing custom and quality company logo.

    Sticker printing
    bumper sticker

    Reply

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