The British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro) is the main electric utility in the province of British Columbia, established in 1961. The logo for BC Hydro was created by well-known Vancouver artist / designer / typographer / printer Jim Rimmer. The logo, created when Jim was in his late 20s, depicts the letter H (for Hydro) whilst simultaneously embedding a sense of water (waves / flow) and energy (surge / spark) within the form of the symbol — and thus capturing the essence of hydro power. The use of colour further reinforces this with the lower half set in blue (water) gradiating vertically into green (land and a sustainable source of power).

 

The current logo is an adaptation of this original version, but has changed somewhat to be less spiky and smoothed out — perhaps a little more friendly.

 

The Vancouver Canucks entered the NHL in 1970-71 as part of the league expansion draft, along with the Buffalo Sabres. The original Canucks logo was designed by freelance graphic designer Joe Borovich, lifelong hockey fan and nearby resident to the home of the Canucks (the Pacific Colosseum). On hearing rumours that the Canucks would be entering the NHL, Borovich speculatively invested some time to develop a new team logo in an attempt to submit it for consideration. His beautifully simple solution incorporates 3 essential elements; the super-ellipse of the hockey rink, the hockey stick and the letter C for Canucks. The colours were selected to represent the blue of the Pacific Ocean, green for BC forests and white for snow-capped mountains. Joe took his concept to owner of the Canucks, Tom Scallen, who impressed by Borovich’s outstanding work. About a month later Scallen followed up with the designer, having gained full approval to proceed and invited him in to work on the full roll-out of the new identity program, including uniforms, ticketing and marketing promotion.

 

After several identity changes over the years that followed, the original logo and jersey design were reintroduced for a few games in celebration of the Canucks 40th anniversary in 2010.

 

 

This resulting symbol is a very smart solution, combining a heart (Valentine) within a flower head, with two lower leaves producing a ‘V’ (further reinforced in the negative space) and a vase. Unfortunately the client never selected this particular concept, but Pacey remained attached to it, feeling it was a really strong idea. He went on to enter it in several awards and it was a winner in the 1971/72  Graphica Awards, jointly hosted by the Art Directors Club of Toronto and Art Directors Club of Montréal.