100 Days is an annual project at New York City’s School of Visual Arts that was founded by Michael Bierut. Each year, the students of the school’s Masters in Branding Program spend 100 days documenting their process with a chosen creative endeavor. This year, we’re showcasing each student in the program by providing a peek into ten days of their project. You can keep an eye on everyone’s work in the SVA 100 Days projects gallery.
Lynne Rennie is a graphic designer, design educator, and creative instigator focused on brand strategy and consumer-goods packaging, bringing clarity, strategic optimism, and big-hearted energy to every project. What layered and complex visual symbols shape Canadiana? That’s the question at the heart of Rennie’s 100 Days project, “Drawn to Canada,” which has gained national attention, with coverage in major Canadian news websites and on national and local radio.
In Rennie’s words:
“Drawn to Canada began as a semiotic study of Canadian identity. Because Canadians are often uncertain what defines them, my goal was to explore the shared symbols that shape our national identity by drawing and writing about one every day for 100 days.
Behind the sketches, I have built a spreadsheet, a living index built from my research and suggestions from those who follow the project. The spreadsheet operates like a brand system: an evolving framework continually expanding through participation. It reflects how national identity, like branding, takes shape through an accumulation of symbols, iteration, and shared recognition.
I began with the ready assumption that Canada defines itself by what it is not—not American, not British—but discovered that our national identity is actually built from many small affirmations rather than from oppositions. It is complex, layered, plural, and regional—an identity constantly being remade; a sketch but never a finished drawing.”
[Drawn to Canada] reflects how national identity, like branding, takes shape through an accumulation of symbols, iteration, and shared recognition.
Lynne Rennie
Find Rennie’s project on Instagram at @DrawntoCanada.
Left: Founded in Canada more than 50 years ago, Tim Hortons’ connection to hockey, small towns, and youth sports has made it a national institution. Right: Honk! The Canada Goose embodies the contradictions of Canadian identity: resilient, adaptable, and a little unpredictable.
Left: “Canuck” began as outsider slang in the 19th century and has evolved into an informal, affectionate, widely recognized term for a Canadian. Right: Ketchup chips are considered Canadiana less for their unique flavour than for their cultural association as a snack whose long-standing popularity has made it distinctly Canadian.
Left: The North American House Hippo was invented as part of a 1999 PSA that profiled a fantastical creature in the style of a trusted nature documentary to teach Canadian kids to think critically about media. Right: Bagged milk, introduced during Canada’s 1970s metric transition, reflects a uniquely regional and practical approach to milk packaging that is efficient, economical, and puzzling to those outside Eastern and Atlantic Canada.
Left: Smarties are candy-coated chocolates completely distinct from the American candy of the same name, and are known for their bright colours, familiar crunch, and playful box that reflect Canadians’ long-standing preference for UK-style confectionery. Right: The Robertson screw is a Canadian invention known for being self-centering, slip-resistant, easy to use. It remains valued in Canada, particularly in woodworking and construction, for its functional advantages over the Phillips screw.
Left: Roots built its identity around Canadian nature and craftsmanship, blending athletic style with wilderness imagery and adopting the beaver, Canada’s national symbol, as its brand emblem, becoming both a national brand and a global expression of Canadiana. Right: The Northwest Territories’ polar bear–shaped licence plate transformed a remote geographic region into an instantly recognizable national symbol, linking the North with ideas of strength and wilderness.
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