City approves new logo to promote Grand Forks
By Erin Perkins
After six months of surveys, market analysis and design, Story & Co. presented the new city logo at the first Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, March 4.
The logo, which consists of the name Grand Forks and a simple field-like design in black and white, was presented at the committee meeting and officially accepted at the regular council meeting that same night.
Story & Co. was hired to do the project in September 2012. They are the same design team that created the Boundary Country Chamber of Commerce marketing material and Kicking Horse Coffee Company.
“The brand is reflective of the community,” said Matt Thompson, the Story & Co. representative who made the presentation at the Committee of the Whole meeting. “It is broad and versatile and has a number of target audiences including the most important — the community of Grand Forks itself.”
Besides the logo, the city will also have a new taglines to use in their promotional material, “Original, peaceful living” and “Settle in”.
“I like the black and white,” said mayor Brian Taylor. “I think that’s powerful because everyone has colour. You will have colour in everything else you do, but that black and white makes it distinctive.”
Many council members described the logo has having a nostalgic feel, which they liked.
“It speaks to our mining tradition and brings us back to the 1930s. It think those are all things I find attractive with this,” said Taylor.
“In my opinion a brand is the heart (of the community),” said councillor Bob Kendal. “This is just the beginning of how we tell our story and it isn’t a forever marketing campaign, but it is somewhere for us to start. I think this is important for us to realize.”
“I think this captures the personality (of the city),” said councillor Gary Smith.
Thompson warned council they needed to commit to using the branding consistently and continuously to make it work effectively.
Now the logo has been accepted, the city will move ahead with updating the website over the next few weeks to better reflect the new brand and nostalgic style of the marketing campaign.
