12 Comments Add your own

• 1. tonik  |  February 26th, 2006 at 18:09

  that’s beautiful. i’m not certain, but mostly because of the red stripe, i think. wow.

• 2. M Roberts  |  March 1st, 2006 at 14:57

  I had not seen “Amik” before – definitely the best attempt I’ve seen at representing Canada’s first animaux. I believe Parks Canada is the most recent organization in Canada to make a serious attempt at using the beaver in their branding. The original beaver from the seventies was re-designed a few years back. At one point it even sported a smiley face! Personally, I think the original beaver was more successful ‚Äì simplicity always works best in design.

• 3. amik  |  February 8th, 2007 at 12:53

  Oh!! Very beatefull logo!!!… for me

• 4. Hi  |  June 22nd, 2008 at 17:48

  That is pretty cool.Great design!

• 5. Danica  |  August 4th, 2008 at 04:41

  That Is a Wonderful Mascot that really reprsents Canada atmosphere. My Backround is from Canada and i hear all about it. I Dont think i know what a Amik is but im always open to new word!

• 6. Ken  |  July 29th, 2009 at 08:47

  Oh No!

  http://www.summerworks.ca/2009/home.php

• 7. Mark Sean Kershaw  |  January 24th, 2010 at 18:13

  It’s good to hear so many compliments towards the design of Amik; if you check out many of the blogs about Olympic mascots, Amik does not fare as well as most: he is criticized as ambiguous, remote, too minimal, lacking in persona, etc., etc., but, in a sense, this is precisely what makes him so successful as a design. He really is an emblem, not a mascot. The design suggests that he is affable, NOT cute, in short, worthy of reproduction but not of endless crass marketing schemes. He represents many of the high ideals of Canadian design of the period prior to the “cutification” of everything. I’m sorry he remains misunderstood because he lacks the charms of the admittedly effective Miga, Sumi, Quatchi, and Mukmuk.

• 8. Luke Winn at the Winter O&hellip  |  February 24th, 2010 at 19:19

  [...] Montreal Olympic Mascot: Amik Yvon Laroche, Pierre-Yves Pelletier, Guy St-Arnaud & George Huel, COJO 76 ©COJO 76 ©COJO 76 [...]

• 9. 2010 VANCOUVER WINTER OLY&hellip  |  March 6th, 2010 at 13:24

  [...] – Todd Falkowsky, The Canadian Design Resource [...]

• 10. Mike  |  March 23rd, 2010 at 17:01

  What’s the idea with the red stripe?

• 11. Michael Erdmann  |  March 23rd, 2010 at 17:47

  Hi Mike,
  The red sash referenced the ribbons on the ’76 medals. Here’s what I wrote about this piece for SI.com recently (you can click on the Luke Winn at the Winter Olympics link above to see the entire article):

  “The beaver is one of Canada’s oldest symbols, reaching back to the country’s earliest fur-trading roots. The beaver adorned Canada’s first official postage stamp and was even proposed for our national flag. Thankfully we dodged that one, but the giant rodent can still be found on the Canadian nickel, the government coat of arms and even the logo for Roots Clothing (which has built a successful brand by playing at Canadian-ness). We’ve heard all the jokes before — we probably wrote most of them — but it’s difficult to refute the beaver’s legitimate symbolism. Though not the most original choice, Amik (which means beaver in a common Algonquin dialect) was certainly a logical choice for Canada’s first Olympic logo.

  Subject matter aside, Amik is sometimes criticized for being too flat and static. Contemporary audiences have come to expect playful cartoon characters and people wearing costumes. Amik was never intended to satisfy these expectations. Instead, the friendly little beaver was conceived as a logo, symbolizing the spirit of hard work and perseverance at the heart of the Games.

  Though there were a few three-dimensional versions of Amik — wooden pull toys, plush toys and a cast plastic edition in a range of colors — he generally appeared as a solid black beaver with a red sash (matching the ribbons of Montreal’s Olympic medals). While Olympic merchandising was still in its infancy in 1976, thanks to excellent graphic design, Amilk has proven to have lasting appeal.”

• 12. Madison  |  October 31st, 2010 at 12:26

  Ok, I laughed its ugly and cute idk what i think(:(:(:

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