Ontario Hydro
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Designer: Allan Robb Fleming
Studio: Hathaway-Templeton
Origin: 1962, Canada
Status: Retired
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www.hydroone.com
I was 6 years of age when my parents built a new finishing barn for their farm. Close to its completion, I recall three white utility trucks slowly traveling down our long lane way. As each truck parked the doors opened, showing off a bright orange emblem. Several men with thick mustaches climbed out and put on their orange safety helmets on which adorned the same emblem.
That bright orange emblem was the Ontario Hydro logo. It’s one of those timeless logos that’s brilliant. For me it was the use of bold colours, the cleverly hidden ‘O’ and ‘H’ and the 45 degree tilt that had caught my eye—it say’s electric, perfect for a power company.
Not only do the colours convey its energy, but the combined logo elements unite it together. As I mentioned, cleverly the letters ‘O’ and ‘H’ (from Ontario Hydro) were combined to create the mark, which also represents the universal symbol for an appliance connector (or plug). The added tilt provides further intensity and strength. Also, subliminally the 'O' and the 'H' remind me of H2O (water’s chemical formula)... interesting.
For people who do not know, hydro is electricity that harnesses the power of water in motion—such as water flowing over a rock face—thank you Niagara Falls : )
The Ontario Hydro logo system was retired in 1999 and was changed to the current nondescript Hydro One logo.
Photo Description & Credit:
1. Ontario Hydro safety helmet (mock-up) - Umit-Yildirim
2. Ontario Hydro logotype and mark.
3. Photo of Allan Robb Fleming, 1959
4. Allan Fleming’s Ontario Hydro logo launch document, 1965 – Alliance Graphique Internationale
5. Ontario Hydro printed materials, from left to right: Annual Report front cover: 1973 / Meter Reading Post Card: 1971 / Year Around Comfort Ad Maclean's, May 1971
6. La Centrale nucléaire de Pickering booklet, 1970 (mock-up of original)
7. Ontario Hydro electric utility bucket truck (mock-up) – American Public Power Association
8 Sikorsky S-58ET, CF-OIA, Ontario Hydro Helicopter, 1973 – Caz Caswell
9. Zap the Safety Bird for children, by Ontario Hydro, 1982
