For visual and media artist Dawn Iehstoseranon:nha, journalism shapes the world’s perspective and amplifies untold stories.
So when Carleton University journalism professor Duncan McCue asked her to design the logo for the upcoming Certificate in Journalism in Indigenous Communities, Iehstoseranon:nha said the opportunity meant “a lot.”
The circular logo design features a birch tree bark background with a superimposed side profile of a woman with yellow headphones and brown, braided hair. A red feather tied within her braid loops around and is connected to a radio microphone. A red silhouette outlines her face from behind.
Iehstoseranon:nha said the design is meant to encapsulate storytelling and connection — and represent the work that students will undertake when the program is launched in fall 2025.
The Charlatan sat down with Iehstoseranon:nha to discuss the logo’s conception and themes.
The Charlatan (TC): How did you get involved with the logo’s design?
Dawn Iehstoseranon:nha (DI): Duncan McCue reached out to me. He had seen my work, and we worked very closely to see how this logo would work.
As artists doing a commission for someone, they’re telling us their vision and they’re telling us their story. It’s really important to connect with that person because my hand is just translating his vision.
It was a really good process, and I’m so fortunate to have been able to work with him.
TC: What does it mean to you to have designed the logo?
DI: A lot. I normally focus on Indigenous organizations, although I’ve done logos for non-Indigenous companies. This one was special because the logo was created to reflect the importance of knowledge sharing. It really leaned into storytelling. McCue is seeing a way to record history and Indigenous worldviews.
TC: Can you walk me through the logo designing process?
DI: We started talking about that logo maybe late spring or early summer of last year. My normal process is to listen to McCue’s vision and then create several ideas that he can choose from.
This entailed listening to what he felt would represent the students properly and the work that they’re doing to translate these Indigenous stories. It was important to listen to all of those perspectives and make a logo that really spoke to them. Also, creating awareness for non-Indigenous people because that voice is really important.
I created many logos for him. It was a little bit of a process, but I think the final logo is super connective. We finished it in November this year.
TC: What perspectives, themes or meanings did you aim to incorporate into the design?
DI: We wanted to make sure it was inclusive. There’s so many Indigenous communities, and each one is a separate culture, with separate language and separate values. We were trying to visualize the connection between age groups, how we listen to things and how we translate things differently.
For example, the shadow in red behind appears to be an older person, so maybe a community member or an elder walking alongside the student. This represents the people in the community who are trusting these students to tell their story in an honest and insightful way.
It’s vital that these stories come across accurately and in ways that the people speaking in the communities are going to be proud to put out into the world.
TC: In the logo, there’s a red feather in the woman’s hair that’s tied to the microphone. Is there any significance behind that subtle design choice?
DI: That’s probably the most important part of the logo — making sure that we’re seeing the connections from the community to the student or the taker of the story.
Hair is super important in our spiritual connection. A braid is braiding communities together, and the feather is a connection to the spirit world because the birds fly high. It acknowledges that every single connection is traveling down and out the end of the braid and up to the microphone. It’s keeping the perspective of connection to the natural world to each other and to the honesty of storytelling.
TC: What emotions or thoughts do you hope the logo instills in people?
DI: I can’t speak to what people are going to see because we’re all so different. What I hope people see is all the spiritual connections. The ancestors and the natural world, also the connection to community and the fact that there’s more than one person in this logo. That’s what I would really like people to see: that this logo speaks to being connected.
TC: We’ve talked so much about the importance of connections. Why is that theme so important for journalism and storytelling?
DI: I feel like in this crazy, absurd world we live in, one of the biggest reasons it is the way that it is is because people are no longer touching the ground, the trees. They don’t know where air comes from and they don’t care where water comes from.
This is really important when you think about the work McCue and the students are doing, because they’re bringing that to light. It’s completely absent in the media. Unless it has to do with taking resources or making money off of resources, it’s missing in this world.
I really hope that logos and programs like this bring that to light. By keeping the people, environment and community in the stories, even the subtleness of a logo can awaken people to the importance of putting their feet on the ground.
TC: To end things off, what are your thoughts about the new program?
DI: In short, brilliant — it’s filling a place. Journalism is storytelling and it’s vital in shaping perspectives and creating awareness. They’re telling the stories that people would otherwise not hear.
It’s also filling gaps between our Indigenous communities. If we see another community doing something, we pull from that and we better ourselves by watching each other. The course brings that to light, and people will talk about it. When we get young people thinking this way, their children are going to think this way.
It’s really important to do this work and I think everyone should be grateful for the Indigenous peoples who are dedicated to making sure young people have a more open mindset.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Featured image provided by Dawn Iehstoseranon:nha.
