Shawnee moves forward with a new brand design that will be used on the city’s social media, merchandise, vehicles and other things after a process that spanned several months.
Earlier this week, a divided city council authorized the new brand design from a list of six options, with Mayor Michelle Distler casting the tie-breaking vote.
“I’ve been a little amazed at how much time we’ve actually spent debating this. So I’m not gonna get wrapped around the axle on it,” Councilmember Kurt Knappen said, noting how similar the six proposed designs were.
The new design has rolling hills and a shining sun
- What was selected on Monday shows the shining sun that can be found in the official Shawnee seal, but instead of a covered wagon, there are rolling hills.
- It’s all bordered with a dark blue circle with the words “Hometown with Heart” emblazoned on the top, a nod to a new tagline replacing the old one, “Good Starts Here.”
- The city’s name also cuts through the middle, and Kansas is written below, as is the year of the city’s founding date of 1856.
- In the actual design, the hills will be flipped so they face the sun instead of what’s shown in the sample image.
- This will replace the leafless tree design currently used as the city logo.
Council split over design and rebranding
- Last month, the council was asked to vote on the new brand but tabled the item after some councilmembers complained that they hadn’t gotten enough input in the process.
- On Monday, Councilmembers Jill Chalfie, Angela Stiens, Jacklynn Walters, along with Knappen, voted for the design, while Eric Jenkins, Tammy Thomas, Tony Gillette and Mike Kemmling voted no
- Distler, who was a big proponent of the rebranding process, sided with the “yes” votes, saying she preferred the original design proposed in January that had broad community support.
Some councilmembers didn’t want to spend the money
- Monday evening, Kemmling and Thomas said they didn’t support putting money toward rebranding and the cost of its implementation
- Jenkins said he was also unsure about pursuing the rebranding process in the beginning, but didn’t oppose changing the brand now that the money’s been spent.
- “We can’t debate any longer about whether we’re moving forward with a logo or not, that’s already done,” he said.
- He told the Post his “no” vote was about his preference for a different design without the blue border and tagline.
- Thomas and Gillette also expressed their preferences for other designs.
New design will start being put on things
- Soon, the city’s staff will begin switching out the old brand design for the new with free or near free things, communications manager Julie Breithaupt said.
- That’s things like social media profiles, web graphics and the website, which was part of the contract the city had with the marketing firm Crux KC to remake the brand.
- From there, the design will be added to city business cards and stationary as the existing stocks run out.
- Plus, the contract with Crux included the cost to replace some of the decals at city hall.
Previously: New Shawnee city logo hits snag as some on council push back
