The Logo

THE LOGO

A logo is a combination of text and iconography which represents your community. A well designed logo should be distinctive, easy to identify, and should reflect the overall feel of the local culture. This can be communicated using the tone of the graphics, the iconography of the design, and the associated color scheme.

Use of Text in the Logo The most critical element of a municipal or place-based logo is the text that is incorporated into the design. Most logos include the name of the community and the type of organization. It is also important to include the word Ohio for smaller communities so that people that are unfamiliar with your community will immediately recognize where the community is and how to find it. Therefore, an effective brand identity for most communities in the Buckeye Hills region should include at least two elements; the name of the community, and the word Ohio. Is also important to identify the type of entity such as Village, City, or County. These elements may be displayed with a varying hierarchy so that the name of the community stands out the most.

Visual Tone

The design of the logo should convey the feeling of your community that you want to portray to the world. This overall visual tone will be immediately recognizable to viewers and will likely lead to the first impression of your brand identity, even before they read the words in the logo or look closely at any other elements. Your brand identity could have a fun and light tone which helps potential visitors to understand that your community is friendly and is fun to visit. Conversely, your brand identity could have a historical feel which in turn communicates that there are historical features to explore. It is important to establish the desired visual tone early in the design process as this specific direction will drive many other decisions. Iconography/Brand Mark A common strategy is to incorporate a visual icon into the design of the logo. This is referred to as a brand mark. The brand mark can be recognized on its own separate from any text or other supporting elements that are incorporated into the logo design. Many community logos include a representation of distinctive landmark within the community such as a notable building, park, or monument. If your community chooses to include a landmark into the design, it is critical that this feature is truly distinctive so that it does not get confused with a similar landmark from another community.

Principal Color Scheme The selection of a principal color scheme is a critical decision in the process of designing a brand identity. All colors create strong but very different emotional responses, and this emotional response should be used to reinforce the desired visual tone. The principal color scheme of the logo may have one color or several colors. However, most logos do not have more than three colors. This is to minimize print costs and complexity of use.

Many communities have specific colors that are part of the heritage of the place and evoke a specific reaction from local community members that may be different from a nonresident that is unfamiliar with the local history. Additionally, some communities may want to select a color or color scheme which purposely elicits a new response from both community members and potential visitors. In this way, the color scheme is used to create a fresh perspective or to alter the image of the community.

Regardless of the selection of the primary color scheme, both the logo and brand mark should be recognizable and compelling in a monochromatic format. In other words, if the logo is utilized on a color background, it needs to have a clean and strong look in basic white. Conversely if it is printed and black and white, it needs to look appropriate in grayscale.