Upstart Cornwall

Cornwall’s New Logo

The City of Cornwall announced last week that they have chosen a new logo as part of a new branding effort.

There has been a lot of talk about this logo in the newspapers, radio and on the street. I have personally spoken to about 20 people about the design as well as the new slogan (A City With A World of Opportunity). At the moment, City officials and the Economic Development team are taking a bit of flack for the high cost (Est. $25,000), the logo’s design and the fact that it was created by a firm outside of Cornwall. I’m sure they are getting some positive feedback from various sources as well.

I feel we should beak down these three items.

The Cost:
A branding exercise, when done properly, is a time consuming and complex matter. As a designer I can tell you that creating logos is not easy and re-branding something like a City is even more so. Still, $25,000 for a logo is a lot of money. I don’t think the City needed a new logo, so it is not money well spent in my books. I think we could have gotten 5 local firms to submit 50 logo designs for that price. Would the end result have been better? No one will ever know.

The Design:
The design of the logo is where most people tend to disagree. Some people love it (see: City Council), others think it is horrible (see: letters to the Editor). Design is always subjective and hence anyone can say it is well done or not well done. As a designer I think the logo is very basic, the colours are too neutral, and the green “swish” makes the logo look like 500 other logos I have seen. Cornwall needed to stand out from a crowd - and this design does not do that. Is it better than the previous one? I don’t think so. Will it grow on me? Probably. Does it help Cornwall’s image? I hope so. Will anyone move their business to Cornwall because they like the logo? No. Does it look like Job Zone d’emploi’s logo? Yes.

I actually don’t mind it that much. It is bland and really doesn’t have any meaning behind it but it is more modern than the previous one. It could grow on me after a while.

The Design Team:
A lot of the talk in town is about the fact that the city hired a company from out of town; Ottawa to be specific. Some people say that the city should have hired local talent to develop its marketing campaign and I tend to agree. I don’t remember seeing the RFP (Nor would I have submitted a proposal as I am not a graphic artist) so I don’t know the specifics of the contract. I do know that Cornwall DOES have the talent to create a much better logo and slogan and that the City should have made more of an effort to find a local business to develop it. I have seen the portfolio of the company in question. they are good at what they do. they do brilliant work with graphics / logos and have worked with some major clients. However, I am very disappointed with the outcome of the design from such a talented group. I would love to see the samples that were not chosen.

Anyway - that is my 2 cents. We have a new logo - it will be plastered everywhere. Hopefully the City will hire local companies to provide the printing and auto decal’s needed to “re-brand” the City.

If you ask me - the City has much bigger image problems then their logo - but it’s a start, and hopefully a step in the right direction.

My next post will tackle the new slogan.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 5th, 2007 at 4:37 pm and is filed under Branding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Cornwall’s New Logo”

1. Jason Herrington Says:
   October 6th, 2007 at 12:34 am

   Besides the fact that I think the logo’s tag line is ridiculous the real issue that get me going is why on earth the city went outside of the city to hire a firm to develop our logo.

   In my opinion the Library’s logo, designed by a local graphic designer is better than what the City spent on their current logo. I would have preferred to paid that local graphic artist 25k, she does way better work!

   Here is a question I have ask the Econ Dev dept time after time — show me a 5-10 year develop plan on paper… still to this day NOTHING. how can you brand a city if you have no clue what you want it to be 10 years from today?

   Cornwall…grow up! Go back to how you use to be in the 30-50’s! What ever happen to you? Oh ya.. past mayor’s who controlled the labor market and rejected good industry …oh and let’s not forget that time Cornwall rejected to have a University in our city… what dumb asses!

2. B. Santin Says:
   October 11th, 2007 at 10:13 am

   The new logo looks like the Domtar smokestack as it lazily wafts odiforous fumes onto the summer breeze.

3. Daniel Trepanier Says:
   October 18th, 2007 at 3:17 pm

   The logo is an important part of Cornwall. People see the logo before the rest of advertisement. I really think this is a good one. But something about borders ie to Quebec and US should probably be mentioned, as it can benefit some shipping buisiness’. Now the fact that it has been hired out of Cornwall, is not the best idea. But I can also see perhaps they needed an outside look on the inside. I grew up in Cornwall, and i am proud to say, i have survived it. Cornwall is a depressed town, for one we should have never sold out on our beloved ROYALS. I talk to people out here in mid-western Ontario and they remember Cornwall for two reasons one THE ROYALS and the other is that stink we used to have. It is for sure, TIME FOR CHANGE in Cornwall. I vote Eric Bergeron for MAYOR.

4. Eric Bergeron Says:
   October 18th, 2007 at 8:16 pm

   Dan - thanks for the reply.

   Don’t get me started on the Royals! I can still name you the lineups of each year from about 1980 until they left - and not just the Tabaracci’s & Gilmour’s etc … I’m talking about the Paul Wilkinson’s and Craig Brocklehurst’s!! I will actually be writing an entire post about the Royals / Colts / Aces / Comets shortly.

   By the way - if you live in Owen Sound … you can’t vote for mayor here But I appreciate the sentiment.

5. Eric Bergeron Says:
   December 4th, 2007 at 11:03 pm

   Another similar logo:

   The City of Burlington Ontario
   http://cms.burlington.ca/site4.aspx

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