The National Film Board of Canada (NFB/ONF) is Canada’s public film and digital media producer. Its visual identity centers on a stylized human figure known as “Man Seeing” or “Visionary Man,” a mark that has endured with modifications since the late 1960s.
Design and History
In the 1960s, the NFB did not yet have an official symbol. An old emblem with the letters N, F, and B appeared in some of its films from the 1940s, but it was more of an insignia than a true logo. Leadership under Commissioner Hugo McPherson decided to remedy the situation. After two hired graphic design firms produced unsatisfactory proposals, management held a competition among NFB staff. The selection committee received 53 anonymous submissions, from which ten were chosen and presented to McPherson and the committee. They selected, in order of preference, numbers 52, 25, and 9. Number 52, designed by Georges Beaupré, creative director of the NFB’s publicity department, became the official logo. Submission 25 by animator Norman McLaren placed second, and submission 9 by Sidney Goldsmith placed third.[1]
Beaupré designed the mark in 1968.[2] The logo was originally green.[3] In 1993, the design was modified slightly, integrated into a frame with the organization’s English and French initials added below. It was further updated in 2002, when “Man Seeing” moved out of the frame, the font was changed, and a brighter shade of green was used while maintaining the identity.[1] In 2015, the colour green was replaced by black.[1]
An aluminum version of the logo was installed on the exterior of the NFB’s headquarters on Côte-de-Liesse Road in Montreal in the early 1970s, along with the inscriptions “National Film Board of Canada” and “Office national du film du Canada.” It remained a fixture visible from the Metropolitan Expressway for nearly 50 years until it was removed on April 24, 2019, as part of preparations for the NFB’s move to downtown Montreal. The logo was slated to be placed in a large public space in the NFB’s new office at Îlot Balmoral.[1][2]
Meaning and Symbolism
Commissioner Hugo McPherson described the design’s symbolism in a July 1970 memo to staff. According to McPherson, the figure represents mankind, with raised arms and clasped hands suggesting celebration, and the head formed like the iris of an eye. He stated: “The NFB’s new logo is MAN SEEING. This is visionary man, animated man.”[1] The design also evokes Indigenous art, which McPherson said affirmed Canada’s progressive approach to art and communications technology.[1]
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