These independently designed Canadian sesquicentennial logos are way better than the real ones

About two weeks ago, five proposed logos for Canada’s 2017 sesquicentennial (that is, the 150th anniversary of confederation) began circulating online. Although the designs were just preliminary sketches that Canadian Heritage was using in focus-group sessions, they caused a lot of alarm in the media, because, well, they were all pretty terrible—especially in comparison to the iconic 1967 centennial logo, designed by Stuart Ash. Now the internet has interceded, in the best possible way.

Ibraheem Youssef, a Canadian graphic designer currently based in Boston, set up a website, where he’s showcasing sesquicentennial logo designs done pro bono by professional designers. The results, while not sanctioned by the feds, are so much better than those official preliminary designs that there’s practically no comparison. If the sesquicentennial’s organizers won’t hire one of these artists to create the logo, we hope they’ll at least crib some ideas.

Here, six of the best of the indie logos. The rest—many of which are also very good—are here.

See all 6 logos »