March 19, 2024

UNVEILED

Preliminary city logo design makes debut

What makes a good logo?

Does it have simplicity? Is it unique? Adaptable? Timeless? Is it appropriate toward its subject?

Osceola City Council hopes the new city logo will encompass all of those aspects as it forges ahead with finding the right design.

During a July 15 city council meeting, Ty Wheeler, city administrator/clerk, debuted a preliminary city logo to the council.

“What we’ve got here is the product of the subcommittee’s work, which, for the most part, identifies what we felt was one of the features that we have as we continue to work toward the future, which is our location. And, thus, the map and the pin,” Wheeler said.

New design

For the past couple of months, there has been a public initiative to develop a new logo for the city of Osceola.

It will be a new branding that will go on signage, letterheads, shirts, vehicles and more. The purpose is to have consistency in a logo, rather than the many various images that are being used by the city’s entities.

Wheeler said he wanted the city council to eventually adopt the logo officially because it will legitimize the usage of it for city staff.

Public input

There was a general consensus among the councilmen that they weren’t ready to officially approve the logo during the meeting because they still wanted to hear comments from the public.

“Yes, we need to have some type of — something in front of the council. I don’t think we’re quite ready for that (official approval) yet,” said Councilman Dave Walkup. “I think we’re ready to go and get all the different types of input from our community. I know I’m not ready to approve it.”

Wheeler said the new logo will officially be city property once it’s finalized.

“I would agree, then, that we’re acquiring city property. It would be certainly in our interest to see what the city thinks of it,” said Councilman Dr. George Fotiadis.

The effort to develop a new logo has been a months long effort of various citizens in Osceola, not just the city council.

A public hearing on the logo is scheduled for Aug. 19.

That date would also allow the winner in the Tuesday, Aug. 5, special election for the open at-large council seat to have input.

Written comments on the logo are also welcome for the public hearing.

“We want comments,” Walkup said. “We want to see what people think.”

Just so people know, the design of the second “o” in Osceola referencing a GPS or navigator icon.

Two of the same

The new logo is actually two different versions that are essentially the same design. There’s a large version of the logo, as well as a smaller one.

“The problem, as I’ve mentioned in the past, is when we’ve had more room, we end up with one version of Warrior Osceola and when we had to pair it down, we’ve got another version,” Wheeler said. “Then, a few years ago, the feather showed up and now, it’s a mish mash of various generations of Warrior Osceola, and then the feather and then the feather became artistic — scribble. It just lacks a sense of consistency.”

Basically, when previous Osceola logos needed to be smaller, they didn’t have the right size or dimensions, and something different had to be used.

“It really depends on the size of the space in which we’re printing,” Wheeler said. “Say, for example, you’ve got a business card, you might not have graphically enough space to print something of this (big) size and have it show up clear. You might want to instead pair it down to something that maybe leaves out the graphics and background and (have) just the main Osceola part. On the other hand, if you’ve got a vehicle or city letterhead, it would be more appropriate for the full picture.”