The story behind that Canada logo you see everywhere

The Canada wordmark is ubiquitous in Ottawa. For decades, the logo has been emblazoned on federal buildings and signs, making the presence of the government felt throughout downtown.

And its reach has been far beyond the National Capital Region, as it has bookended government television commercials, become a symbol of Canada abroad, and even made its way into space on the Canadarm of the International Space Station.

Most Ottawa residents would recognize the wordmark, but they might not know how it came to be. It was created in the 1960s by designer Jim Donoahue and adopted by the federal government in 1982 as its “official symbol of government.”

Donoahue died in 2022, but the Ottawa Citizen spoke to those who knew him to tell the story of the wordmark that has become a visual part of Ottawans’ daily lives.

Good strong mark

Donoahue was working for MacLaren Advertising in the 1960s when he was assigned to design a series of tourism advertisements for the federal government. While designing those pieces, he realized that there was no official government logo for the bottom of the ads.

He told his copywriter colleague, Peter Bonner who said “well, do one,” according to Blair Thomson, a graphic designer, historian and archivist.

So he did. In one afternoon, according to Thomson, Donoahue designed what is now known as the Canada wordmark. He used Baskerville typeface, which he was fond of, and he thickened it as it was light and delicate and could fade in smaller reproductions.

The “D” in “Canada” rose like a flagpole, so it was a perfect place for the flag to “fly off,” said his daughter Zoe Donoahue in an interview, echoing her father’s words.

“Good strong mark, a lot of fun,” Jim said of the wordmark in a video recounting its creation.

The wordmark quickly gained recognition as it was used in high-profile centennial events, according to Tracey Headley, director of the communications and federal identity policy at the Treasury Board Secretariat.

In the 1970s, the government used different logos, designs and fonts, which made it “difficult for the public to identify federal department and federal services,” Headley said in an interview.

But then the federal identity program stepped in “to standardize the government of Canada’s corporate identity,” she added, and the federal government eventually adopted Donoahue’s symbol as its official wordmark.

Another day, another dollar

But Donoahue did not receive a cent initially for the work he had done on the wordmark, as it was a byproduct of the advertisement project that had been commissioned, said Thomson.

Thomson said the federal government later sent Donoahue a “nice letter” and a cheque for $1 to “formalize ownership.”

“I’m sure that it’s worth a lot more than that, but it was just the way the process happened,” Thomson added.

The Treasury Board Secretariat couldn’t confirm that the federal government had issued Donoahue a $1 cheque, nor the exact year when the wordmark was created.

But Donoahue’s daughter, Zoe, recalled her father talking about it. She said he was never bothered by receiving a $1 cheque, and that he even “got a kick out of that. He laughed about it for sure.”

She described her father as someone who loved the process and puzzle of design into his 80s and she said the wordmark was one of his greatest prides.

Donoahue’s work on iconic Canadian logos was fairly expansive, having also designed the old emblems for TSN, Global TV and Toronto’s Eaton Centre among others.

Identity building

The 1960s in Canada was a time of identity-building that saw the country’s centennial and Expo 67. This time led to the development of a number of national symbols, including the Canadian flag in 1964, and a Canadian design boom. Several iconic Canadian logos, like those of CBC, the GO Transit and CN Rail, came out of this time.

Thomson, whose website Canadian Modern looks to preserve the rich history of the modern Canadian design movement, said the country’s design can be characterized as “functional,” “clear” and “understandable.”

“It says what it is, but also there’s like this proud, like we’re holding our flag up to say this is who we are, elbows up,” said Thomson, who also manages a physical archive of Canadian graphic design.

Over the years, Thomson has met with the lead designers of the era, including Donoahue, learning what he could from them and preserving that knowledge.

Is it time for a revamp?

In 2000, a survey conducted by Angus Reid Group on behalf of the federal government found that 85 per cent of Canadians agreed that seeing the wordmark made them “feel proud to be Canadian.” The report found that “there is overwhelming support for the continued use of the Canada wordmark as the Government of Canada’s brand identifier.”

The report also found that the wordmark gave credibility to information shared by the federal government.

In more recent reports conducted by the Strategic Council, a public opinion research firm, for the Privy Council Office from 2023 and 2024, the Canada wordmark continued to be associated with trusted, unbiased and official information.

In a November 2023 report, every member of four focus groups from different regions found that the wordmark was recognizable and several participants also said it evoked feelings of national pride.

In another study conducted between December 2023 and January 2024, every member of a focus group recognized the symbol and many believed it represented the federal government. When asked how they typically determine if information comes from the federal government, many described a logo that sounded like the wordmark.

“In an era of increasing misinformation and disinformation, a symbol like the Canada wordmark ensures that the public can have confidence that the information they are receiving is in fact coming from the government of Canada,” Headley said.

Revamping the wordmark is a non-starter for Thomson. He said recreating the wordmark would be the “Holy Grail” of projects, but that it would be unnecessary.

For Thomson, the wordmark is special in its timelessness and symbolism of Canadian identity. He said it represents “all the positives of Canada” and that it’s “not trying to do more than it needs to.”

“It’s not like it feels outdated or it feels wrong or feels like it doesn’t tell the right story, or it feels inappropriate,” Thomson said. “I think it feels wholly appropriate, and it’s so consistently used, it’s just become omnipresent.”

Zoe Donoahue agreed that the wordmark is timeless.

“I can’t imagine you would want anything fussy or ornate,” she said. “I just think it’s so clear.”

She said she is just grateful that so much of her father’s work still survives today.

“It’s really special to us to be able to see his marks still out in the world,” she said. “I know that would really mean a lot to him, and it means a lot to us as well.”

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