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“The repeated shape is meant to create a sense of unity and the 13 shapes forming the leaf represents our togetherness as a country,” her explanation as offered on the website said.

Cuvin, who received $5,000 for her winning design, said she didn’t have much time to come up with it, having learned of the contest only two or three days before the submission deadline.

“I tried to put as much effort into it as possible,” she said. “I pulled as many resources as I could, doing research and asking my peers what they thought of some of the designs I made.”

When the government announced last December that it was holding a student contest to choose the winning logo design, Graphic Designers of Canada, the national certification body for graphic and communication designers, complained the process would exploit students, who — aside from Cuvin — received no compensation for their work.

But Cuvin brushed that aside Monday.

“I don’t feel like I was being exploited,” she said. “It was my choice to join the contest. I knew what I was getting out of it in the end.”

Graphic Designers of Canada president Adrian Jean released an open letter Monday expressing his industry’s “collective disappointment” that the government didn’t consider the impact of the contest on the design industry.

“The GDC had hoped that Canada’s 150th anniversary, and the corresponding visual identity, would be the cause of great pride and celebration,” Jean said in the letter. “Unfortunately, it represents a glaring reminder of this government’s significant lack of understanding of the value of design, the creative process and the design profession.”