This is easily one of the most recognizable company logos in the country and has been used by the CBC since it was launched decades ago. The logo is affectionately known as the “exploding pizza” for obvious reasons and I have been able to dig up some a few examples of it in use (The motion graphic story board, a billboard from the launch and a couple of fleet applications). Innovative and fitting for its time (CBC was using colour broadcasts and was expanding from coast to coast), the logo was one of the first designed to be usable in motion and flat. it used such a beautiful metaphor, colours and image radiating from the source, like transmission waves reaching out to the country. Beautiful!

“The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation hired us, after competitive proposals from the top design firms in Canada, to develop a bilingual logo that would work equally well for Radio Canada and Radio Canada International, and to develop a comprehensive graphic standard for every aspect of the Corporation’s visual needs.

The now familiar logo concept is based on the letter “C” at the center, for Canada, visually broadcasting outward to the country and to the world. It is a logo which is, by its graphic nature, already animated, and it has lent itself to further on-air animation over the years. The graphic program included standards for stationery, vehicles, posters, billboards, banners and clothing. Nothing was left to chance.

It was a truly complete corporate identity program, which would gain in recognition and effectiveness over the years.”

– Burton Kramer  

Comments

Grant HutchinsonJune 15, 2006
Depending on your political affliction, this infamous logo could also be referred to as the “exploding asshole”.
jenniferOctober 3, 2006
I have indeed heard it called “exploding anus.” There are many other logos that look strikingly similar, all designed around the same time.
DaveMay 3, 2007
I love this logo! I was just looking at coverage of the Conrad Black trial and thought “crud–how long has the CBC had that logo?” and did an image search and up popped this site (great site!). I think it’s the best darned type style logo I know of–at once typographical and geometric–and I don’t think it’s seemed dated since its inception. And it’s super versatile–I really like the current version on the CBC site.
greg cunneyworthDecember 9, 2008
Just remember that the current logo used today was very much influenced by Kramers design that has since been “modified.” Personally, I would feel bad publicly calling an incredibly important Canadian logo the “exploding anus/asshole” I am curious to know which logos look strikingly similar too. Kramer’s contrubution to Canadian Design should be a little bit more respected then that.
matthewFebruary 23, 2009
I agree with Greg Cunneyworth. No reason to describe an icon of Canadian design in such lewd terms; it betrays a cynical mindset that is best kept to oneself. The point is that it was iconic, though it looks a bit dated now. The current CBC logo is obviously an adaptation, so the concept has proven to be versatile at least.
LindsaySeptember 29, 2009
I don’t find it dated in the slightest, but I guess for me enough time has elapsed since the early 70s that this sort geometric or supergraphic typography/logo can now be considered classic. And the excellence of the design transcends that style anyway. I don’t think I’ve ever tired of this thing, and pizza and anatomy have never entered my mind. As a kid I thought of it as “the kaleidoscope.”
Jared StengelNovember 23, 2009
I like Global’s logo… I think someone for a Grade 2 art class contest designed that. How basic.
AliJanuary 23, 2010
Lindsay, the logo you see on the TV now is being revised by Gottschalk+Ash particularly by Geordie Allen. After the redesign, all the hell broke loose by Burton Kramer. He dragged CBC to the court; he lost the case. Most recently, in 2001, Razorfish; US Interactive Media firm, facelifted the CBC identity by adding the abbreviation ‘cbc’. They also developed network ID’s, graphic packaging, music, voice, and two tag lines that encapsulate the overall branding message for CBC Television and CBC Newsworld.
AliJanuary 23, 2010
I have to add that the new identity is simpler, elegant and easily produceable. As to answer Greg, the logo designed by Kramer was inspired by Western European Design movement of the time. So it was not something off-the-chart invention.
ericMay 4, 2011
I found a book of Logos that had a picture of the CBC Logo that recorded it as being designed in 1968 in Switzerland. The logo was changed around 1974. Both images were EXACTLY the same. The guy that designed the logo is a forger, and has lived off that fake to this day
CBC 437September 18, 2011
this date was from 1974,not 1982 but ok.
Joan HendrenJanuary 10, 2013
Like it -easily recognised-don’t change it
Jimmy GauvinSeptember 17, 2017
The logo closely resembles the graphical representation of the mathematical equation for the absolute value of the fractional of a complex number : | frac(z) | See <http://mathworld.wolfram.com/FractionalPart.html> for the graphic.
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