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The trillium has been Ontario’s official flower since 1937. Its adoption grew out of a movement during the first world war to choose a national floral emblem appropriate for planting on the graves of Canadian servicemen overseas. It was first used as a symbol of the province in 1964.

This version of the symbol was commissioned by Premier Bill Davis in 1972 to signal the restructuring of his government into six ‘super ministries’. As a 24-year old working for Norman B Hathaway Associates, designer Glenn Fretz was asked by Ernst Barenscher, the project director, to redesign the trillium symbol as part of the new visual identity program. His approach was to construct the petals on a symmetrical geometric grid. The outer shape was formed as a super-ellipse — the midpoint between a circle and a square. The supporting logotype, incorporating the word Ontario, was carefully set in Helvetica Medium.

Colour formed part of a system that each represented one of each of the so called ‘super ministries’. The first half fell under Non-Policy Fields. White and Black: Office of the Premier (The Cabinet Office). Purple: The Management Board of Cabinet (Ministry of Government Services, Civil Service Commission, and Government Productivity of the Ontario Government (C.O.G.P.). Cyan: Ministry of Treasuring, Economics and Intergovernmental Affairs (Ministry of Revenue). The second half fell under policy Fields. Green: Resources Development Policy Field (Agriculture and Food, Environment, Industry and Tourism, Labour, Natural Resources, Transportation and Communications. Gold: Social Development Policy Field (Colleges and Universities, Education, Health, Community and Social Services). Red: Justice Policy Field (Attorney General, Consumer and Commercial Relations, Correctional Services, Solicitor General. In 1975 the government updated the Ontario Visual Identity Manual (of which the archive also holds a copy), deciding that Green and Gold would become the official Provincial colours, supported by the fuller colour palette.

This symbol represented the province for 35 years until it was replaced in 2006. Thirteen years later it was revived and is again in use today (albeit with some minor refinement). The altered symbol replaced the outline with a solid background — while retaining the same super-elliptical shape. The trillium petals were also heavied up a bit. But, for all intents and purposes, the geometry remained the same as it was almost 50 years ago.

You can see the original 1972 Visual Identity Manual here.

Thank you to Glenn Fretz for his support writing this post.

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