Trustees approve new town logo
Nederland’s Board of Trustees recently approved a new town logo after numerous rounds of community feedback on several logo choices.
Board members decided on a logo with water, mountains and a bird flying overhead. Godot Creative, a Boulder consulting firm, created the logo, which was labeled as “Logo B” during the community feedback period.
“As we move forward, we want to utilize a new or revitalized logo,” said Miranda Fisher, Nederland town and zoning administrator. “A logo can help guide a conversation on how we want to communicate our values as Nederland to visitors and residents.”
Peter Cacek, Nederland’s public engagement manager, showed the Board of Trustees statistics from two surveys that residents responded to throughout the design process.
“It was nice that none of them came in with a preconceived notion of what they wanted the logo to be,” said Cacek. “There was some desire for discussion because this is going to be attached to Nederland for the next year or so.”
Nederland started a rebranding campaign after being selected for the Reimagine Destinations Programs by the Colorado Tourism Office in 2022. Town officials hired Godot Creative to head the project.
Three of the final logo choices were created by Godot Creative, and the fourth option was from Nederland resident, Will Weyer.
In January, the release of a proposed new logo for the town of Nederland sparked a backlash from the community and instigated a redesign process.
As a result, the Board of Trustees and Godot went back to the drawing board. Cacek mentioned in the Board of Trustees meeting that another survey ran for two weeks and received 484 responses.
“We were directed to go with one final survey to take the top designs from that community session, add in an updated version of the current logo, and a few community submissions that came in during that time,” said Cacek. “If we hit 100 (responses) that’s solid, so to see so much turnout is great.”
The initial results of the original “creative identity campaign” were released to the town Facebook group Nedheads on Jan. 3. The logo, in particular, was met with anger and confusion, detailed in Facebook comments published by The Mountain Ear.
Godot’s creative director Beckett Taylor called the logo an “abstract design”, representing a “precariously balanced” Nederland on the precipice of change.
However, residents called it “teetering on obliqueness” and “gentrification run amok,” on
the residents-only Facebook page, according to the Mountain Ear.
“I understood what they were aiming for in this duality of Nederland,” said Fisher regarding the logo. “… but I did have concerns. I had concerns that it required explanation, and wasn’t really going to end well with the community.”
In addition to a new logo, board members discussed taglines for the town. Godot suggested five options as part of its branding package: ‘Unique by Nature,’ ‘Close to the Mountains, Far from Ordinary,’ ‘It’s all
True,’ ‘Just Outside the Ordinary’ and ‘Keep it Wild, Make it Home.’
Nichole Sterling, liaison to the town’s sustainability advisory board, advocated for ‘Unique by Nature’ which received 184 votes and was the top choice among residents. No final decision has been made.
“I’m initially thinking Logo B with ‘Unique by Nature,’” said Sterling. “Parks and recreation have always been a big deal to us. Oftentimes, the people who live here consider themselves unique rulebreakers. Sometimes we are considered the black sheep of families … when I think about that tagline, it shows our reservoir, it is focused on the nature around us.”
The top pick for residents who participated in the survey was Weyer’s submission, Logo G, which features a moose with mountains in the backdrop. Although Logo G was the most popular, with 118 votes, Sterling said that he felt that Weyer’s logo was too blobby on paper.
Eric Coombs Esmail, the liaison to the Board of Zoning Adjustment agreed with Sterling and argued further against Logo G.
“I’m staunchly antimoose,” said Coombs Esmail. “In the logo, I find it to be mascot-y.”
Cacek added that moose aren’t native to Colorado and were only introduced to the area in the 1970s.
“Moose are not indigenous,
and there is a fear of cartoonifying the animal and making them seem less dangerous than they can be,” said Cacek. “The new logo represents where Nederland is and where it could be in the future… it features a natural piece of wildlife that is indigenous to the Rocky Mountains.”
Both Fisher and Cacek said that the new logo is going to be phased in over time.
“We are not going to immediately rebrand trucks. However, we are going to use it for official municipal government work,” said Cacek. “We are also going to be using (the new logo) for educational campaigns to have something that is identifiable.”