Centennial logo celebrates history, diversity

S1 Joseph Dimayuga with fellow sailor S2 Kelly Le. The two served as representatives of today’s Naval Reserves on S1 Dimayuga’s winning logo design for the 2023 Naval Reserve Centennial.

Peter Mallett 
Staff Writer

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The designer of the 2023 Naval Reserve Centennial logo says his art combines diversity and inclusion with honouring the history of the reserves.

S1 Joseph Dimayuga, former reservist turned Regular Force, beat out dozens of submissions, grabbing the thumbs up from a panel of judges at Naval Reserves headquarters in Quebec City.

The winning logo features silhouettes of a male sailor and a Women’s Royal Naval Service member from the Second World War, and a male and female sailor of today’s Naval Reserve.

The current day sailors were gleaned from a photo of himself and friend S2 Kelly Le, both representing diversity.

“Historically, the navy was predominantly male and white 100 years ago, but times have changed and my thought was to have better representation of today’s navy and how it has transformed,” he says.

His art will be turned into a morale patch to be worn in 2023, and serve as a visual identifier on banners, signs, and flags.

“Conveying a century of history with a limited circular space that will be transformed into an embroidered patch of three-and-a-half inches was no easy task,” says S1 Dimayuga. “I did this through silhouettes and headdresses so this way past and present sailors are represented, whilst making sure the images will translate well for logo printing and embroidery.”

He is very familiar with custom embroidery as he was a garment manufacturer and master tailor before joining the Reserves.

“I had lots of experience doing all sorts of embroidery for garments and uniforms, so really it was the perfect training ground for coming up with a winning design for the navy,” he says. 

He immigrated to Canada in 2003, and joined the Naval Reserves in 2018. He was a member of HMCS Discovery in Vancouver when he won the design competition.

So far, S1 Dimayuga has received much praise for the logo, including from the commanding officer of his former unit and numerous favourable comments on HMCS Discovery’s Facebook page. 

“The comments have led to all sorts of people from navy past and present sharing their stories and recollections of their service and family’s military history,” he says. “It’s nice to see this dialogue unfold, as provoking this discourse was the whole intention behind my design.”