Nelvana Logo PNG
Designers have created a “Nordic” emblem with elements of cartoon style for the Canadian animation studio. Despite the external cold, the Nelvana logo radiates hope, dreaminess, confidence, resilience, and faith in a brighter future.
Nelvana was founded in Toronto in 1971 by Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert, and animator Clive Smith. The studio took its name from Nelvana of the Northern Lights, a Canadian comic-book heroine created by Adrian Dingle in the 1940s. Hirsh and Loubert met at York University, while Smith had worked on The Beatles animated series and Yellow Submarine in 1968.
The first office was a worn apartment in downtown Toronto, with handmade equipment and almost no money. Early work included low-budget shorts for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. A Cosmic Christmas, made for CBC in 1977, became the first major break. After seeing five minutes of it, George Lucas hired Nelvana to create an animated segment for The Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978.
In 1983, Nelvana released Rock & Rule, a feature-length animated film with music by Cheap Trick, Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, and Earth, Wind & Fire. The film failed at the box office, and the studio survived by moving into children’s literary adaptations. Babar aired on HBO and became its first international co-production, followed by the acquisition of rights to The Adventures of Tintin, Little Bear, The Magic School Bus, and Rupert. Unlike Hanna-Barbera, Nelvana built much of its reputation through book-based animation. In 1989, Beetlejuice premiered on ABC, directed by Tim Burton.
Nelvana went public in 1994, bought Windlight Studios in 1997, and acquired Kids Can Press in 1998. In September 2000, Corus Entertainment purchased the studio for $ 540 million. Later projects included The Backyardigans, Braceface, Hotel Transylvania, and Max & Ruby. Its production mark, a white polar bear looking at the North Star, has appeared since the mid-1980s.
Meaning and History
The company’s logo was redesigned six times during its development. However, the main element, the polar bear looking at the polar star, remained unchanged.
What is Nelvana?
It is one of the largest Canadian animation studios, with over 40 years of experience. In addition to producing animated films, she is also known as a distributor of animated series, including on such cult sites as Nickelodeon.
1978 – 2005
The first version of the Nelvana logo appeared in 1978. It consisted of a single element, the studio emblem. It is an image of a bear facing right, its muzzle raised. The image was black-and-white, but the bear looked quite confident and modern despite this.
1985 – 2003
The image of the bear remained unchanged. At the same time, he was inside an arc consisting of seven black stars. Also, a verbal inscription appeared for the first time: an animal. A classic sans-serif font was chosen for the name Nelvana. It consisted of large capital letters with thin lines. At the same time, the significant space between the symbols makes the logo lighter and more open to users.
1995 – 2005
Another redesign of the logo made only minimal changes to the original. The black outline in the polar bear drawing has been replaced with a light blue one.
At the same time, the second version of the updated logo was presented. The bear image also has a blue-and-white color scheme. The emblem is inside a blue arc with seven white stars. The studio name has an identical classic sans-serif font. However, the color has also been changed to blue.
1999 – 2005
The new Nelvana redesign made only small changes to the previous version. Significantly changed the style of writing verbal inscriptions. The studio’s name has become more voluminous and almost immediately catches the eye. Also, the lines in the letters are more rounded. All symbols are closer to the arc and the main image, indicating the elements’ interaction. The arch uses a blue gradient to make the Nelvana logo look more modern and confident.
2004 – today
For the first time, the image of the bear was changed. Now, he looks more natural, thanks to the attention to detail, such as the wool’s appearance and the muzzle’s high-quality rendering. Of the seven stars, only one remained, and the arch was removed from the logo entirely. Thus, the picture began to look more realistic and modern. The verbal inscription has become voluminous thanks to white letters with blue outlines and a barely noticeable shadow. There was virtually no spacing between characters.
2016 – today
The most recent redesign has resulted in significant changes to the logo. Now, the key element is the name “Nelvana,” which is twice as large as the animal image. It seems that the bear was left as a tribute to tradition. Moreover, the star has also been simplified. Now it is no longer five-pointed but four-pointed. If we talk about the name, then the updates concern the size of the word inscription and the font. It has become more modern and confident, and the rounded corners in the letters immediately catch the eye. In addition, lowercase characters are used for the first time rather than uppercase.
Font and Colors
Different fonts were used at different stages of Nelvana’s functioning, ranging from classic sans-serif to modern style with three-dimensional letters and rounded corners.
The black-and-white color scheme, which the company actively used for the first time after the studio’s launch, was replaced with blue-and-white. The latter seems more suited to Nelvana’s project creation profile aimed at children. A polar bear with blue outlines looks interesting and fresh, arousing genuine interest among potential customers.