CANADA POST PUTS ITS STAMP ON 50 YEARS OF MODERN GRAPHIC DESIGN
23.08.2006 News
Parents who
have shared with their children the joy of Dennis Lee's poems as
brought to life by the illustrations of Frank Newfield (one of the
founders of the GDC), as found in the children's classic Alligator Pie,
know intuitively why they are drawn again and again to this book. It is
the same for youths and their parents who purchase CDs or books based
on the cover artwork alone: they are drawn to the intangible made real.
The profession and art of graphic design originates from
traditions and techniques in the industrial trades of printing,
typesetting, illustration and typeface design. However, it was the
establishment of the GDC as a professional society that allowed the
unique skills of the modern graphic designer to emerge and develop.
When
the Post Office Department (now Canada Post) established the Design
Advisory Committee in 1969, the forerunner of the current Stamp
Advisory Committee, the GDC played a key role in establishing the
committee and its members have held positions on it throughout the
years. Canada Post's own design evolved over those years and the early
work done on it by GDC Fellow Paul Arthur, earned him the honour of
being the only Canadian graphic designer to date to be awarded the
Order of Canada.
GDC founders Leslie (Sam) Smart and
John Gibson trained in Britain as typesetters. Their arrival in Canada
did much to raise design standards and further awareness of typography
as an expressive element on the page. They also brought with them a
sense of the importance of membership in a professional design society.
Today, the Society's mandate and membership is broader than ever
before. The GDC is organized into regional chapters representing
British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Arctic and
Atlantic Canada. The Association of Registered Graphic Designers of
Ontario (RGD Ontario) is an association of accredited graphic designers
formed from GDC Chapters.Designers in Quebec are represented by the
Societe des designers graphiques du Quebec (SDGQ). Membership is
comprised of practicing professional graphic designers, design
educators, design administrators, design students, associates in
related fields and corporate sponsors. Members form a network of
professional assistance that acts as a resource to the profession and
the public.
This 50 anniversary stamp is the result of
a collaborative effort between Rod Roodenburg, David Coates, and
Len-Nard Yambot of Vancouver's Ion Design Inc. It is an intriguing
piece of work, as the rather minimalist design features a stylized
lower case "g" that also forms a unique graphic of a beaver, a
treasured Canadian symbol and the subject of Canada's very first
postage stamp. "When you first look at it," Coates says, "you see
simple lines, you see the type treatment. But then you look closer and
you see the other levels, you recognize the iconic aspects. That's what
design is about."
The 51-cent stamp measures 32 mm x
45.5 mm. Lowe-Martin printed 2,500,000 stamps which will be available
in panes of 16. The stamps were printed using lithography in six
colours and P.V.A. gum on Tullis Russell Coatings paper. They are
general tagged on all four sides. The Official First Day Cover reads:
TORONTO ON.
For further information please contact:
E: info@gdc.net
The GDC is a professional Member of Icograda.
relatedarticles
in memoriam: essam abu awad (1958-2021)
in memoriam: yu bingnan (1933–2020)
