City of Vancouver puts much-maligned new wordmark design on hold
Mayor says city will engage with local design community to improve city brand
Mayor Gregor Robertson has announced the city will put its much-maligned new wordmark design on hold, less than a week after its unveiling was met with a wave of criticism and mockery from local designers and other residents.
"While there will never be a single design that satisfies everyone, over the last week, there have been some compelling cases raised about why a different approach is needed," read Robertson's statement, issued Tuesday evening.
The proposed new wordmark cost the city $8,000 to commission, and would have plastered the design, which uses the gotham typeface, across city assets.
But members of Vancouver's design community were unimpressed with the result, and went as far as to publish an open letter outlining the faults they saw in the new city branding.
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"There is so much more that could have been done, yet the city has severely failed to produce an inspirational mark that authentically represents and makes us proud of who we are and can be," it read in part.
"It is an insult to the design and creative sector. It is an insult to Vancouverites and all who love our city."
<a href="https://twitter.com/Choplogik">@Choplogik</a> hey, saw Vancouver needed a new logo so I knocked you up one real quick. payment to the usual address. <a href="https://t.co/PiUT104MWg">pic.twitter.com/PiUT104MWg</a>
—@direlogApparently, Robertson was listening.
"I have asked the city manager not to put the wordmark on any permanent city assets while we engage with the design community and public in looking at ongoing improvements to the city brand," he said in the release.
In addition, Johnathon Strebly, national president of the Graphic Designers of Canada, has been asked to convene a meeting with local design stakeholders about both "the evolution of [Vancouver's] brand", and how the City can "better support Vancouver's design industry."