Sechelt council has voted to adopt a new logo, but couldn’t decide between three top contenders.
All three incorporate the big “S” that’s part of a “community brand” created earlier this year, and would replace the District of Sechelt corporate logo known affectionately by some as the “bacon and eggs.”
When council approved the community branding initiative, which includes having the district act as a sort of custodian and trademark holder for the brand, on Oct. 2, they stopped short of accepting it as the basis for a new District of Sechelt logo.
Instead, council asked the communications department go back to the drawing board to “further refine corporate logo options.”
Those new options were presented to council on Dec. 18.
“As the community has developed a brand to be used in business, tourism and in the non-profit sector, it is a perfect time for the District to join that brand to build a more cohesive look for Sechelt,” Julie Rogers, communications manager, says in a written report to council.
Rogers’ report also says the current logo “does not meet best practices in graphic design standards and … does not work well for other branding elements.”
Coun. Alton Toth and Mayor Darnela Siegers both referenced the negative reaction to the 2013 unveiling of the current logo. “When the current logo was brought in there was a huge community outcry and people said they didn’t like it, so it’s amazing how it’s grown on them,” Siegers said.
Siegers also defended the process behind the community branding and the developing of a new district logo.
“We’ve been getting some emails over the last while from community members and community groups saying that there was no community input into the community brand – that’s incorrect... Just because a certain person or their group weren’t asked for their input it does not mean that there was no community engagement or input,” she said.
Siegers also said the choice of a logo for the District of Sechelt is up to council and “not up for community debate.”
“Do we want to be a part of the community brand … or not. Do we want to get on board with the community or not. That’s the question we’re being asked to deliberate on tonight, not whether the community likes it or if they’ve had input,” Siegers said.
The only councillors to vote against making a change were Janice Kuester and Eric Scott. “I like our bacon and eggs logo – I’m used to it. There’s a cost associated with moving forward with a new logo and for me that’s not a priority,” Kuester said.
Scott added, “I don’t see the need to spend money on stuff like this. I don’t dislike the old logo, it works just fine for what we need to do… I’m not going to support any change to what we have.”
Council voted to have their three top choices brought back with examples of how they’d look on trucks, signage and street banners to help them make the final decision.
Development of the community brand and logo cost about $3,000. It’s estimated that preparing digital files and templates would be another $700 and the total cost for rebranding would be $3,200 this year and $4,400 in 2020.
