Below: The Design Intent master plan prepared by a group of Canadian intellectuals (mostly architects and designers) allowed Expo 67 to be implemented quickly and coherently. Paul Arthur was responsible for the Standard Sign Manual. He chose Univers as the font for all signage. (Image: Standard Sign Manual, Expo 67)
Below: The mid-1960s was a fertile time for Canadian design, spawning high-profile identities for companies such as the Canadian National Railway and HydroQuebec.
Montreal has emerged from that period a confident and vibrant city, a gorgeous mix of old and new with historic neighborhoods and modern developments, museums and markets, and great food and a particular sense of style. Montreal is a medical, academic, and high-tech center, and also home to a great tradition of festivals—jazz, comedy, fireworks, and arts. And yes, Montreal has explicitly embraced design: the legacy of Expo 67 endures. The promotion and support of design is now part of the public policy of the City of Montreal.
Left: Arthur also created a set of pictograms, which included (clockwise from left) entrance, exit, no touching, no standing. (Images: Standard Sign Manual, Expo 67)
54 segdDESIGN
Six years after that glorious Expo summer, SEGD was founded in the United States by a group of designers who embraced the spirit of the world’s fair. They envisioned an organization that was dedicated to the design of public spaces and places. They helped create the discipline of environmental graphic design that was explored so remarkably at Expo 67. Design systems, media installations, public signage, dramatic exhibits— these were the elements of Expo and these are the tools of the contemporary professional design practice that SEGD has nurtured and developed. It is fitting that our first international conference be held in a city that has been a cradle of international design.
David Gibson is managing principal of Two Twelve (New York) and author of The Wayfinding Handbook. Sue Gould is president of Lebowitz | Gould | Design (New York).