The City of Visalia unveiled their new logo on their Facebook May 7 and the reaction has been less than positive.
Withering criticism has flooded in with comments such as, “This is so sad, it looks like a 5 year old designed it,” and “Just re-checked the calendar…nope, not April 1st.”
In just two days the city’s post has garnered more than 750 comments.
And many Visalian’s want the old logo back.
The city stated in their May 7 Facebook post;
Informed by over 800 conversations, surveys and interviews completed with Visalians, the process has included updating the City’s identity, image, and brand to market the positive aspects of working for and living in the City of Visalia.
The new City of Visalia logo is a nod to its predecessors with elements breaking out of a bold V. The Fox Theatre represents our beautiful downtown and Visalia’s arts and entertainment scene, as well as the history of our city. The Sierra Nevadas represent the incredible destination Visalia is in the valley under the majestic range, while echoing the strength our city holds. The rolling green hills are the farmland that the city is built on and represent the pride we have in living in the Central Valley. It all rests under a bright blue sky and golden sun.
According to the August 7, 2023 agenda the logo change cost the city $150,000.
The city described the break down of costs in their agenda packet,
“The City currently has a Professional Services Agreement with firm We The Creative to complete the rebranding process for the Human Resources Division, for a contract total of $75,000. Staff is requesting an additional $25,000 from the General Fund for HR Marketing and Branding Services to meet the contract amount (This would be in addition to the $50,000 allocated for FY 2020/2021). Additionally, staff is seeking an allocation of $75,000 for Citywide Rebranding services, which would bring the We The Creative project total for contracted services to $150,000.”
According to the agenda packet the city had started the process of researching into a new city logo in January or February of 2019 but their efforts were delayed by the pandemic. They restarted their project in March of 2021.
The justification for changing the city’s logo was, “Over the years working for a government agency has seen diminished appeal and we need to recreate the vision and develop better ways to market the City. Additionally, the information produced could be used by multiple City departments to present a unified message. This effort has implications for employee attraction and retention as well as economic development efforts.”
We the Creative (WTC) was awarded the contract for the project in April of 2022 through a competitive bid process according to the city.
To create the logo the city said that “WTC met with the City’s project team, taking tours of the community, conducting roundtable discussions and focus groups that included City Council, City staff, residents, business owners, and staff from other stakeholder organizations.”
According to the agenda, “One of the first steps in the branding process was to create a logo that is visually appealing, recognizable, and representative of Visalia. The input received during discovery indicated it should be simple, artistic, colorful, and modern.”
“The overarching goal is to update the City’s identity, image, and brand to market the positive aspects of working for and living in the City of Visalia, as well as create a cohesive, modern, identifiable look to be used throughout the organization,” stated the agenda.
WTC initially presented 29 logo concept options, which were then narrowed down to a top three after review and input from the internal project team, City department heads, and staff. Council was also provided an opportunity to, individually, review the top options.
From that input, a single concept was selected which is referred to as the “Breaking through the V” option,” said the City.