Federal Identity Program

The "Canada" wordmark on the Canadarm

The Federal Identity Program (FIP) is the Canadian government's corporate identity program. The purpose of the FIP is to clearly identify each program and service of the government or the government of Canada in general. Managed by the Treasury Board Secretariat, this program, and the government's communication policy, help to shape the public image of the government. In general, logos – or, in the parlance of the policy, visual identifiers – used by government departments other than those specified in the FIP must be approved by the Treasury Board.

In 1969, the Official Languages Act was established to ensure the equality of English and French in all federal jurisdictions. That same year, a task force found that the Canadian government was conveying a confused image to the populace through a hodge-podge of symbology and typefaces (fonts). In 1970, the FIP was created to standardize a corporate identity for the Canadian government.

Applications

The Federal Identity Program covers approximately 160 institutions and over 20,000 facilities across Canada and worldwide. Among the applications are stationery, forms, vehicular markings, signage, advertising, published material, electronic communications, audio-visual productions, expositions, personnel identification, awards, plaques, packaging, buildings, labelling, and identification of equipment.

Components

There are three basic components of the Federal Identity Program: the Canada wordmark and two corporate signature types with national symbols and bilingual titles, all of which are rendered consistently.

Official and signage colours, including the national colours of Canada, are specified in technical specification T-145 as hexadecimal triplets, RGB values, CMYK colors, and Pantone Color Matching System.[1]

Canada wordmark

The Canada wordmark is mandatory on virtually all of the applications mentioned above. Established in 1980, the Canada wordmark is essentially a logo for the government of Canada: it consists of the word "Canada" written in a serif font, a modified version of Baskerville, with a Canadian flag over the final 'a'. In a 1999 study commissioned by the federal government, 77% of respondents remembered seeing the Canada wordmark at some point in the past.[2] Television viewers may be familiar with the logo from seeing it in the credits of Canadian television programs, where it is used to indicate government funding or tax credits.

Corporate signatures

There exist two basic types of FIP corporate signatures, each having a bilingual title and one of two symbols. The title is rendered in one of three typefaces of the sans serif Helvetica family, selected for its simplicity and modernity.

Exemptions to the Federal Identity Program

Certain federal entities were listed as exempt from FIP in the 1990 FIP Policy:

.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Colour Values". Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. 10 May 2012. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
  2. ↑ Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Canada Wordmark Study
  3. ↑ Institutions not subject to the Federal Identity Program, 1990 Policy Reference

External links

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