A new city logo design meant to unify the city’s visual identity and to convey an “authentic and unique brand for the city” was unveiled during the Woodland City Council’s meeting Tuesday.
“A coherent brand identity represents a key piece of City Council’s strategic goal to improve the city’s internal and external communications and engagement,” the city staff report stated. “The city’s current visual identity lacks uniformity and is outdated. At least three different logos are regularly used interchangeably and none are designed as part of a consistent identity that works equally well for varied purposes.”
City staff argued that modern communications “necessitate clear yet flexible brand guidelines” to allow the city to engage better through different mediums.
The city first brought this issue to the council’s attention in 2021, which led to the creation of an ad-hoc subcommittee in July 2021 to “update and unify the city’s visual identity.”
According to the report, the committee selected Selbert Perkins Design — an international design firm — and worked with staff and community members to develop the new logo and brand graphics.
Woodland Communications Manager Spencer Bowen explained that the city issues a request for qualifications in 2021 that received 16 responses, from which the city narrowed down to the design firm.
He noted that the firm quoted the city $10,000 for the design, which was the sixth lowest price from the 16 responses received.
“So we did take cost into consideration certainly, we didn’t want to overpay for this,” Bowen assured. “They had the strongest portfolio and the strongest design.”
The staff report mentioned that funding to implement the new logo will largely be covered “within existing department budgets.”
“Staff is preparing estimates for areas of deployments that fall outside of the adopted budgets, such as city vehicle decals, wayfinding signage and downtown street banners that will be included as part of the supplemental budget requests reviewed with the mid-year budget in March,” the report explained.
Bowen noted during the council’s Tuesday meeting that while not the most important thing for the city to focus on, “there is value in communicating clearly and consistently” with constituents.
He explained that the subcommittee and city staff selected a handful of community members to help with providing input and feedback in the process.
“Those community members ended up being a local high school art student, a local small business community member as well as an artist and community organizer here in Woodland,” Bowen stated.
He added that the city focused on several themes when picking a new logo: fresh, modern, consistent, flexible, timeless and distinctive.
The logo is a trace of a valley oak leaf from Woodland overlaid on a hexagon. Bowen noted that it was used to highlight the city’s history as the city of trees and its commitment to expanding its tree canopy.
“There are two levels of symbolism to this,” Bowen explained. “One is related to our pollination industry and our food and agriculture backbone. We’re a huge hub of pollination industry and research…so it’s a nod to that whole economy.”
Additionally, he noted that the logo shows the juxtaposition “between the organic form of the leaf and the more geometric form of the hexagon,” which he thinks speaks towards Woodland’s industry, ecology and land.
Bowen also showed several other “sets of logos” that will work for a variety of implementations, all utilizing the leaf and hexagon.
He added that the subcommittee and city staff engaged with stakeholders through a broad survey, one-on-one interviews, phone calls and site visits.
Councilwoman Mayra Vega served on the subcommittee and said, “it was definitely a labor of love.”
“I really appreciate how we engaged with the community stakeholders and hope they will be proud of the outcome,” she stated.
Councilman Stallard also approved of the logo calling it “really beautiful.”
“It’s not stuffy, but it’s sophisticated and it really lifts the bar for how our community can be viewed by others including ourselves,” Stallard emphasized. “I’m ready for a change.”
However, Mayor Victoria Fernandez voiced her concern with the logo explaining that she has “a difficult time with change.”
“Growing up here, we were known as the city of trees,” Fernandez began. “I don’t think I stand alone in the need to have things not change, but we are in 2023 and I know that the logo has been around for as long as I can remember with the tree.”
Although she is grateful that the design includes a leaf from Woodland, Fernandez said she is still hesitant about the need for a new logo and the investment of money in “having the entire city rebranded into something different.”
“I’m sure the residents will adjust just as I will adjust,” Fernandez said. “Change is not an easy thing for some of us, and I just want to acknowledge that.
The council voted unanimously to establish the new city logo and brand graphics and directed city staff to roll them out across digital assets — email, social media, videos and websites — and physical assets — vehicles, business cards and signage.
“Staff will also develop resources to assist city departments, employees, council and others to properly deploy the new brand assets,” the report concluded.
