Presenting the Pye Centre’s logo!

In preparing for the launch of the Pye Centre’s website and social media platforms, we wanted to create a logo that represents who we are, what we do, and the values that guide our work.

We wanted our logo to evoke feelings and experiences that people would associate with the Pye Centre, including a sense of place and connectedness to community and to the land. And, we wanted our logo to distinguish the Pye Centre as a leader in Northern food systems research, education, food production, and outreach, while creating and fostering relationships among our key partners, and community.

We based this logo concept off of some beautiful photos of the farm property taken via drone by Eldred Allen of Bird’s Eye Inc. in 2019. We aimed to capture the distinct Northern colours, feel, and strength we saw within these aerial shots.

The Story Behind the Logo

Shapes

The square shape of the logo can be interpreted as a plot of agricultural land. The lines in the top two segments of the square represent the crops that will be grown at the Pye Centre, through our incubator plots for new farmers, and community garden plots.

The triangles in the middle two segments represent black spruce and larch trees that surround the Pye Centre property, and that are characteristic of Labrador.

The segment at the bottom of the square represents water. In the words of Joyce Pye: “Nothing grows without water. Here in the north we have an abundance of blue water and beautiful clear blue skies.” In a literal sense, having water as part of our logo ties in how close the Pye Centre is to the river. And, in a more figurative sense, this water is meant to represent all the people, partnerships, and resources that will be needed to grow the opportunities and innovations inherent in the future of the Pye Centre.

The pathways that converge in the centre of this plot of land are meant to represent the unifying role of the Pye Centre in bringing peoples and cultures together, working in partnership to strengthen food systems and food sovereignty in Labrador. These pathways can also represent how our goals for the Pye Centre will extend throughout the North: strengthening food security, sovereignty and reclamation of food systems, through place-based and community-led research and educational programming.

Colours

The greens, browns, oranges, and blues evoke the distinctive colours of Labrador lands and waters. By using different shades and hues of these colours, we wanted to show how the land changes from season-to-season. These seasonal changes are also reflected in the white pathways, which are meant to represent snow. 

Reflecting and honouring changes in seasons is integral to our vision and goals for the Pye Centre: in terms of how we rely on the constant, cyclical nature of the growing season, and how we are rising to the opportunities for growth, adaptation, resilience, and learning that emerge as seasons change.

Aerial views of the Pye Centre farm property that provided inspiration for the logo, captured by Bird’s Eye Inc. in Fall 2019.