Manitoba's bison has a new look.

The stylized bison symbol that has been used by the provincial government since 1984 has been updated.

Manitoba's new bison logo, unveiled on Thursday.

The new look is meant to play off the new Spirited Energy promotional campaign launched earlier this summer.

Culture Minister Eric Robinson said Thursday the changes represent an evolution of the familiar symbol, moving to a more energetic stance.

"With this change, we achieve two goals — refreshing the government's visual identity and supporting the new provincewide branding initiative," Robinson said in a statement.

The government said switching to the new symbol won't cost anything, since departments will be directed to use up their current supplies of letterhead, business cards, forms, brochures and reports. The new logo will appear on new material as it is produced.

Some of the first documents to feature the new bison logo will be revamped credit-card sized driver's licences, which people will begin receiving next month.

The new licence, which promises to be more secure than the two-piece paper licence currently in use, will feature a card with a magnetic stripe on the back and visual features to prevent identity theft. It will be paired with a smaller driver's licence certificate.

The new licence will be a step toward a one-piece driver's licence, which the province plans to issue after it determines how the Canadian and U.S. governments will address the use of licences as identification at the border.