Bridgeport spending $23K on ‘catchy’ new logo
BRIDGEPORT — Adorned by an eagle gripping a banner, a hand swinging a hammer, the sun rising over mountains, sailing ships, a ship’s wheel, factories, a cornucopia, a horsedrawn fire engine, an anvil and, perhaps most obviously, a bridge, the city’s seal is busy.
On the heels of last year’s paid advertising campaign, Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration is moving ahead with hiring Norwalk-based SoNo Studios to design what it hopes will be a catchy and more memorable logo.
The City Council’s contracts committee after some debate approved the $23,300 expense Tuesday and forwarded it to the full legislative body for a final vote.
Members of Bridgeport’s economic development and communications offices told committee members the seal, which adorns various municipal signs and documents, can be difficult to read and is not the easiest symbol to reproduce, especially in smaller sizes. They said they do not want to replace it, but come up with a complementary logo that is better for marketing purposes.
“This is more than just a creation of a logo,” said City Planner Lynn Haig. “It’s also the creation of a guidebook that helps make everything uniform. So it gives us a color palette and fonts and all sorts of things that go along with the logo and guidance on how to use that logo.”
“They (logos) are ... not just for official documents we hand out, but moreso as a fundamental tourism and marketing asset that we can use,” said Matthew Abbot, another planner in the economic development department.
A majority of contracts committee members ultimately voted to hire Sono Studios, which was selected following a bidding process. But some first questioned the need, the expense and also were troubled no effort was made to first solicit ideas from Bridgeport’s arts community.
“We have a lot of local artists,” said Councilman Tyler Mack. “So why didn’t we consider having like a logo contest or something?”
SoNo Studios is supposed to come up with three options and settle on one with the help of focus groups from the community. Haig argued Bridgeport is home to “phenomenal” artists, but the project calls for more than a design. There also is the detailed usage guidebook. She added local artists could have submitted proposals to the formal bidding process.
But Councilman Jorge Cruz said no effort was made to first engage that segment of the community.
“And I’m sure they would have come up with a beautiful logo for the city and it would add much more value because it came from the people,” Cruz said.
Council members Matthew McCarthy, a committee co-chairman, and Maria Pereira both questioned the costs.
While $23,300 is a tiny fraction of Bridgeport’s $605 million-plus annual budget, Pereira said it could be spent on other priorities, like a neighborhood dog park.
“In my 12 years in local politics ... I’ve never heard one constituent express concern about the seal,” Pereira said. “I see this as a waste of taxpayer money.”
Ultimately she cast the lone “no” vote.
McCarthy raised concerns about the future expenses associated with affixing a new logo onto all sorts of municipal property. But he continued that other big urban centers in Connecticut have developed logos, so why not Bridgeport?
“All over the country this is being done,” Councilwoman Jeanette Herron, the other contracts committee co-chair, said. “To promote our city is necessary, now. We need to promote, promote, promote.”
“It’s long overdue,” said Councilwoman Rosalina Roman-Christy. “I’ve been saying for the longest time the city needs to be advertised more, without a doubt. (And) I don’t think $23,000 is a whole lot of money considering the millions we have spent on other projects.”