A long-time Richmondite turned Stevestonian has made her mark in local history books with a riveting design for the 72nd Steveston Salmon Festival.
Graphic designer Rahama Johnson is the skills behind an abstract salmon design that is the focus of the Canada 150 celebration this July 1.
“I usually go for tradition, but for this logo I wanted change. I wanted it to be a risk. I didn’t think they were going to like it, but they picked it,” said Johnson.
Johnson is a designer with RKW Communciations in Delta. She works closely with Save-On Foods and London Drugs to design food packaging.
Johnson moved to Richmond in 1994 after growing up in Kenya. She went to Kwantlen Polytechnic University for graphic design and upon graduation, immediately started working for Overwaitea Food Group. After a brief visit back to her native country, she then claimed Steveston as the home for her family of three.
For the last five years she has volunteered with the Salmon Festival, first providing data entry. In 2014 she used her skills to successfully design the festival t-shirts.
While the salmon design looks similar to the official Canada 150 logo, in so much that it has jagged shapes pieced together, there was no intention to make them similar.
“I wanted to go completely outside the box and design something nice, clean and simple. I tried at first to imitate fish scales. I didn’t like it at first and played at it more, and this is what came out of it.”
There are specific meanings to read into the logo, noted Johnson, other than it being a slick sockeye salmon.
“Its just artistic. That’s the way I work, very abstract,” she said.
The logo — which stays true to the colours red and white, unlike the multi-colour Canada 150 logo — was finalized by the festival’s board two months ago.
“It feels awesome. I’m proud to work with the organizers and I’ve always wanted to give back to the Salmon Festival. It’s cool to see my work out there, but for this one, Canada 150, it’s extra special. I see the logo everywhere now,” said Johnson.
And what makes a good logo?
“A good logo has to tell the story of the event or what you’re trying to sell. Be clean and simple. If you’re on a bus, you want to see it clearly, you don’t want miss mashy stuff that makes you ask what it is,” said Johnson.
Special, red festival t-shirts featuring the logo are now available for sale at the Steveston Community Centre.
