Desjardins Group, the Canadian cooperative financial group, has used a hexagonal honeycomb cell as the core of its logo since 1977. The current mark, introduced in 2018, is a simplified version of that hexagon designed for digital and mobile screens.
Design and History
Desjardins did not have a distinctive visual identity from the founding of its first caisse in 1900 until the early 1950s, when the intertwined “CPD” initials (for “caisse populaire Desjardins”) first appeared, mainly on caisse passbooks. The creator and exact date of that design remain unknown.[1]
In 1960, Desjardins adopted a coat of arms designed by a heraldry expert. At its centre were two shields: a gold shield with a maple leaf pattern representing Canada, and a red shield featuring a bee, symbolizing hard work, efficiency, perseverance and cooperative action. The bee and maple leaves likely owed their origin to Cyrille Vaillancourt, the Federation’s general manager, who approved the final design and had earlier headed Quebec’s beekeeping department.[1]
The hexagon logo was officially adopted on March 8, 1977. It was designed by communications firm Cabana Séguin, which had first created the stylized bee in a honeycomb cell for the Union régionale de Montréal in 1976, before proposing it to the whole of Desjardins Group. The hexagon’s six sides represented the multiple components making up Desjardins Group.[1]
In 1998, a new visual identity introduced a logo block with three elements: the honeycomb cell symbol (now in white), the Desjardins name and the colour green. In 2002, a further evolution placed the hexagon in a green square, based on “the principle of the predominance of the Desjardins name.”[1]
The current logo was introduced in 2018. It was designed by the advertising agency lg2 and simplified to be easier to recognize on mobile devices, while retaining the hexagon and the iconic shade of green from the 1977 version.[2][1] The change was described as the most important evolution of the logo since its creation more than 40 years earlier, and it was rolled out gradually starting with digital applications.[1]
Meaning and Symbolism
The bee in the 1977 logo symbolized the virtues of hard work, efficiency, perseverance and cooperative action, continuing the symbolism of the bee on the 1960 coat of arms. The hexagon represented a honeycomb cell, and its six sides stood for the components making up Desjardins Group. The colour green, described as the colour of growth and development, also signalled action, youth, hope and wisdom.[1]
The 2018 redesign removed the bee from the logo, keeping the hexagon and green colour as the brand’s retained attributes.[3]
Typography and Design
Before the 2018 redesign, the Desjardins name in the logo was set in a custom typeface called Desjardins Zapf, specially developed for Desjardins Group and used only for the logotype. It was similar to Optima, which was recommended for all personalized signatures.[4][5]
Official Desjardins signage specifications identify the brand green as Pantone 7725C for painted signage.[6] Earlier graphic standards documents gave the RGB equivalent of Desjardins green as R: 0, G: 140, B: 83.[7]
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