Canadian Artist Designs 2009 World Standards Day Poster

2009-10-01

Standardization bodies around the world are celebrating World Standards Day this year with a Canadian twist.

Canadian Métis artist Dawn Oman designed the 2009 World Standards Day poster. The design, which the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) unveiled on its website in June, is based on the 2009 World Standards Day theme: Tackling climate change through standards.

It is the first time that a Canadian has designed the poster for the event.

“I was absolutely thrilled when I found out,” says Oman. “It’s just such an honour.”
The poster features a graphic picture of the Earth surrounded by a wide circle of images related to water, wind, solar and electrical energy, capped by a fragile ozone layer. The brightly-coloured print is set against a stark black background.

“I included four elements of renewable energy sources and, of course, represented them in my own way. Then, as a brainstorm, I put the earth in the centre of it all, and it just worked,” Oman explains.
She says she was excited to tackle the project because of its environmental significance, particularly for Northern Canada. Oman lives in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. She is a direct descendant of Chief Snuff of the Yellow Knives, one of the signers of the historic Treaty 8 with the Government of Canada.

“My work is influenced by the environment: by the Aurora Borealis, by snow and water. But also, being in the North, I worry about climate change and how it will affect this area, things like the fish, caribou and especially the polar bears.”

Roger Frost, the Manager of Communications Services at ISO, said the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) was invited to recommend a Canadian artist for the design because of the impressive standardization-related track record Canada has in relation to climate change.

“Canada is at the forefront of international efforts to improve environmental management and to combat climate change through standardization by its leading role in the development of the ISO 14000 family, including the recent standards for greenhouse gas management, and new work on the carbon footprint of products,” Frost says.

He says the three international organizations involved in selecting the final design – the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) – were thrilled with Dawn’s work.

“Dawn Oman has a real artistic sensibility and that has shown up in her approach to the poster,” he says. “Instead of being tempted to create a consensual design by including an ISO widget, an IEC widget and an ITU widget, she seems to have stepped outside the subject and realized an artistic vision. And the positive reactions indicate that consensus is not necessarily the minimum on which people can agree, but can coalesce at a very high level.”

The World Standards Day poster is circulated to members of ISO, IEC and ITU, in more than 150 countries. It is also featured on the ISO and IEC websites, and on the cover of the October issue of ISO’s monthly magazine, ISO Focus.

Oman has previously received both the People’s Choice and Artists' Choice Awards at the Great Northern Arts Festival in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. In addition to designing a commemorative medal for the 2008 Yellowknife Arctic Winter Games, her work was chosen by the Royal Canadian Mint for the Festivals of Canada Series silver 50-cent coin collection, and four of her designs were selected by the UNICEF International card program. The Canadian North Airlines corporate look is based on Dawn’s original art: her Bear and Moon design is painted on the jet tails of the airline’s fleet. Swirling colours representing the Northern lights is a recurrent theme throughout her work, as are her brilliant colour combinations and unique interpretations of Northern icons.

World Standards Day was established in 1970 as a day to celebrate the importance of standards-related activities and to pay tribute to the collaborative efforts of the thousands of individuals that give of their time and expertise to this vital work. The aim of World Standards Day is to raise awareness among regulators, industry and consumers on the value of standardization to the global economy. The date of October 14th was chosen because it was on that day in 1946 that delegates from 25 countries first gathered in London and decided to create a new international organization dedicated to the coordination and unification of standards work. ISO was formed one year later.

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This article first appeared in Volume 36 of CONSENSUS Magazine, 2009.  The information it contains was accurate at the time of publication but has not been updated or revised since, and may not reflect the latest updates on the topic.  If you have specific questions or concerns about the content, please contact the Standards Council of Canada.

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