Burton Kramer (born 1932 in New York City) is a Canadian graphic designer, educator and painter, best known for designing the 1974 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) logo, a stylized letter “C” radiating in geometric shapes that many Canadians affectionately call the “Exploding Pizza.”[1] He founded Kramer Design Associates Ltd in 1967, a multidisciplinary design firm that produced identity programs for clients including CIBC, the Royal Ontario Museum, Teknion Furniture and the National Research Council.[2]
Design and History
Kramer moved to Toronto in late 1965 and worked on Expo 67, where he designed the map-directory system.[3] In 1966-67 he served as Director of Corporate Design for Clairtone Sound Corp., redesigning their logo and much of their graphic identity.[3] In 1967 he founded the design firm Burton Kramer Associates Ltd, later renamed Kramer Design Associates Ltd, specializing in corporate identity, signage, packaging and publication design.[3]In 1971, Kramer designed the logo and corporate identity for the Ontario Educational Communications Authority (OECA), a symbol adopted by the Board of Directors at their first meeting on August 20, 1970.[4] He was later invited to develop a full corporate design manual for OECA, which won a Look of Books 1974 Design Award organized by Design Canada.[4]Meaning and Symbolism
The 1974 CBC logo, Kramer’s most famous work, was designed around the initial “C” for Canada, which expands in every direction from east to west to north and south.[5] The “C” represented the core of the broadcasting source, emphasizing national service owned by the people of Canada.[5] The overall shape was global, conveying the corporation’s international responsibilities and its planned satellite network.[5]In its full colour version, the symbol was red at the centre, moving outward in radiations of dark orange, light orange and yellow.[5] The impression of colour and shape was known internally as “the gem” but later, more colloquially, as “The Exploding Pizza.”[5]Typography and Design
The CBC logo was paired with Helvetica Medium, used to identify the divisions in both English and French.[5] Whenever possible, the full colour version was used on a dark blue background or placed within a circle of blue; it could also appear in red on white, white on a coloured ground, or black on white.[5]The logo was refined twice after Kramer’s original design. In 1986, Hubert Tison and Robert Innes simplified the structure and imposed a single blue colour. In 1992, the logo was reduced from 28 pieces to 13, the letter C gave way to a full circle, and red returned as a symbol of “liveliness, dynamism and action.”[5] Kramer criticized the 1992 redesign, saying, “they have this thing, which I don’t see as Canada’s broadcasting symbol. I could see it as symbol for something else, but there is nothing specific that references Canada.”[5]Logo Index is an independent educational archive covering logos, visual identities and graphic design history. All trademarks and brand assets remain the property of their respective owners.
