Visalia council approves plan to change unpopular city logo. Could involve local artists
The Visalia City Council on Monday night shook off suggestions by residents to have a local art contest to develop a new logo and instead decided to resurrect the old logo and also try to improve the new minimalist logo that touched off a firestorm among residents.
The council unanimously approved two out of the six potential options presented by administrative staff. The approved options No. 3 and No. 5 directs staff to:
▪ Retain or modify current new logo to be used when its use is warranted.
▪ Retain the previous logo (adopted in 1998) as . legacy logo to be used where it can be appropriately displayed.
▪ Open the logo design process again and create a process where local artists and graphic designers can submit designs.
Those designs will be reviewed by a panel of local graphics and marketing professionals. A selection of final logos will go to the community for a vote, but the council will make the final decision.
After a public outcry on social media against the city’s newly designed logo, the council moved meeting to the Visalia Convention Center to receive public input, have a logo discussion and to provide direction regarding the future of the logo.
And public input the council received.
Even when the logo discussion was the last item scheduled on the meeting agenda, residents stayed past 10 p.m. to voice their concerns about the process, dislikes of the new logo, and provide suggestions.
Some said a common theme was criticism of “miscommunication or no communication” to the public. Others suggested a “hurtful” insinuation that Visalia lacks a pool of local talent when the city has its own arts consortium.
Others said the minimalistic logo, which was unveiled on May 7 as part of its larger rebranding campaign, “lacks character,” is “geographically incorrect,” and is “slightly preschool” and not representative of the city.
Others called out the city for not keeping the process local and said the city needs to make a call to local artists.
Amy Shuklian, Tulare County District 3 supervisor who spoke as a private citizen Monday night, backed the 1988 logo. She was on the council when she opposed any change.
“That was me, and I’m still very passionate about the logo. Call me nostalgic, old fashioned, or maybe I just don’t like change,” said Shuklian, who not only wore a hat with the 1998 logo but also several logo pins on her shirt.
She added that the 1998 logo has bold colors; identifiable landmarks that are the foundation of what people identify as part of the community.
The new logo is was part of a $150,000 cost that included other items, such as recruitment strategy and a marketing campaign.
According to Visalia City Manager Leslie Caviglia, three proposals were received for the brand refresh and logo:
▪ A local one from Visalia, which was the most expensive.
▪ One submission from Fresno.
▪ The one the council approved from We The Creative of Irvine, whose cost was in between.
City communication manager Allison Mackey said the Irvine firm presented the city with 29 logo options that were narrowed down to three. That included the “Breaking through the V” minimalist logo.
Mackey said the logo had a soft rollout in February before it was unveiled in May.
At Monday’s meeting, Mackey presented the councilmembers with logo samples including in other entities in Visalia and other cities including multiple different logos used by the City of Fresno, which Mackey said could be an approach for Visalia to use.
Councilmember Emmanuel Soto said, “we missed the mark.”
Soto said Visalia could follow the City of Fresno’s footsteps of using multiple logos that would allow the city to keep both logos and also open the logo process to local artists and work with local talent to modify the new logo.
Councilmember Steve Nelsen said on one end the old logo is a 10, very cumbersome, very colorful while the new logo is very simplistic, and is a 1.
Nelsen said they need a logo that is in the middle, a 5, where the city took more time to figure out exactly where to showcase the iconic Fox Theatre correctly.
The public is here “because you’re passionate about Visalia, you are here because you care about your community,” said vice mayor Brett Taylor to those people staying past 10 p.m. “Thank you for being positive, good recommendations.”
Taylor also favors the idea of multiple logos.
Mayor Brian Poochigian said while he is in favor of having a legacy logo, he would like to see all previous logos displayed on the walls at the Civic Center to honor all the logos the city has had in the past.
“It shows where we came from, it shows where we are going,” Poochigian said. “I think we all said it, the new logo wasn’t perfect, but we just need to adjust, try to find a happy medium and I think that’s what we can do.”
This story was originally published June 4, 2024 at 8:37 AM with the headline "Visalia council approves plan to change unpopular city logo. Could involve local artists."
