I was at my local coffee shop yesterday, and Alison (sp? sorry) was wearing this cool shirt with a cool design on the front. When I noted that it was rather awesome she asked me if I recognized it. I didn’t. Turns out that it’s an old CBC logo. Well, sort of. It’s the image they devised to introduce their new colour television programming. Wow.
It got me thinking how the CBC logo has changed a little over the years. Not recognizing the butterfly I knew there were probably others that I don’t know about. And there are. I’ve included them below so you can check them out. And while they’re all very cool you can see how much more effective the simpler, more essential design is more effective. Again and again, I’m amazed at how powerful a minimalist sensibility can be.
When Jane and I went to a North-by-Northwest taping at the new CBC studios in Vancouver, they had a giant wooden version of the first “Radio Canada” logo as a backdrop. It was cool. It was also intersting as a vernacular map projection — the Saint Lawrence points almost directly south.
Incidentally, I am reliably informed that the original prismatic “C” logo was referred to internatlly as “the pizza”.