Makeovers aren’t just for faces and houses; sometimes a city – or at least its visual representation – needs a makeover too. Buckle your seatbelts and come along for the ride as Digital Slant undertakes a rejuvenation of the City of Logan brand and logo. Updates will be posted periodically throughout the project, so check back often.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006 – Today we met with Mayor Randy Watts and the City of Logan department heads to review preliminary draft of a brochure the city has commissioned. Mayor Watts asked us to include a short presentation about the possibility of redesigning and rejuvenating the City’s brand and logo. In preparation for the presentation, we researched the logos and seals of many cities across the state and country. We found that many cities have let go of the concept of the traditional city seal and embraced the concept of a unique brand for their city. Here are a few of the examples we presented.

Friday, December 22, 2006 – The Mayor informed us that the City has accepted our proposal for the redesign of the City logo as well as the website. The logo we design will replace the current City seal, which was designed in the mid-1990’s by a relative of a city employee. The City departments have found that this seal is difficult to reproduce, due to its detailed nature. Consequently, many departments have developed their own logos, leading to a sort of “identity crisis.” Since the city lacks a cohesive brand, it can be difficult for Logan residents to identify exactly which services the city provides. Digital Slant is here to solve all that with a logo system that will unify and enfold the various departments and their logos.

Friday, January 5, 2007 – Before we can start thinking, brainstorming, and designing, we need a lot of information. What are the City’s goals and desires for this new logo? What do they like (and just as important, what do they dislike)? To get this information, we created a Brand Discovery Survey for Mayor Watts and the department heads. Here are a few sample questions from the survey…

1. What three words would you use to describe the community of Logan?
2. What are some things you like about the current city logo (seal)?
3. What colors do you associate with Logan that you might like to see incorporated in the new logo?
4. What reservations do you have, if any, about the city developing a new logo?
5. Do you have any ideas, suggestions, or other input regarding the new city logo?
6. What do you want the new logo to represent when the citizens see it?

Tuesday, January 9, 2007 – For this project, it’s important that we not just understand the City’s goals and desires, but that we understand the city itself. What is Logan? Who is Logan? Where did it come from and where is it going in the future? Many members of our staff are longtime Logan residents, but some are newcomers to Cache Valley. We researched Logan’s demographics, psychographics, history, and growth projections to give our whole team a real feel for the city. This research was compiled for use in the Creative Brief that will guide the project. Did you know Logan’s current population is estimated at about 47,500 and that it is the 11th largest city in Utah?

Friday, January 12, 2006 – We picked up the Brand Discovery Surveys from the City offices and compiled the results with other information to compose a Creative Brief, which is the guiding document for the designers who will work on the project. The Creative Brief was distributed to several Digital Slant designers this afternoon. We know they’ll be thinking about it all weekend!

Here are the most popular words used to describe Logan in the Brand Discovery Surveys:
Safe +++++
Beautiful/Scenic/Alpine +++
Education ++
Progressive ++
Congenial/Friendly +
Good environment +
Heart of the County +
Growing +

The Project Goal, as stated in the Creative Brief:
To create a unified, professional brand for the City of Logan that captures the essence of the community and government of Logan, Utah.

Thursday, January 18, 2007 – The word is out! An article about the logo redesign project appeared in The Salt Lake Tribune. Read the full text of the article here. We enjoyed working with the Cache Valley Tourist Bureau on the tourism logo for Cache Valley, and we appreciate her comments in support of updating the city logo.