Nederland weighs new logo options after outcry
Nederland is wrapping up voting on a new logo and slogan as part of its brand and creative identity campaign after the initial proposal drew mostly negative feedback.
Following community anger over the initial logo design, town leadership hosted several community feedback sessions to recalibrate their next steps.
In the final survey, which closes on Wednesday, residents are now able to pick from eight logo options and five taglines.
The first five logo options are redesigns from Godot Creative, the firm hired to head the rebranding project. The final three entries are new designs submitted to the Nederland Board of Trustees by community members.
“When we started the project, we had a full team of five people on it,” said Godot creative director Beckett Taylor. “And I eventually had to put them onto other things … It’s just three of us pushing it to completion.”
The contract was supposed to be completed in December, but now town leaders are marking March 5 as decision day on the new logo and tagline.
“I still think we’re pretty divided,” said Nederland Town and
Zoning Administrator Miranda Fisher.
“We have to reach an end to this thing, that’s why there is no ‘none of the above’ (option). We have to pick.”
Fisher expressed that the bigger picture of the rebranding initiative had been lost amidst frustration and anger towards the logo.
“There’s still a disconnect where people think we’ve spent $25,000 for a logo,” she said. “The misinformation is really hard to get ahead of.”
In 2022, Nederland was selected for the Colorado Tourism Office’s Reimagine Destinations Program. The program awarded Nederland $20,000 to be used to contract with Godot for a redesign initiative.
The town made up the remaining $5,000 of the contract.
“I want to just reiterate this really ended up getting centered around a logo but ultimately there’s a whole rebranding campaign,” said Fisher. “I think when people can see it pulled together
in a package perhaps it will give more context.”
The goal of the rebranding initiative is to ultimately use the new logo and tagline to reflect the town’s values and promote respectful tourism.
Despite the “angst” as Fisher calls it, she is excited to see the survey results
at the Board of Trustees meeting on March 5, when leadership will make a final decision.
Nederland residents can vote on the logo and tagline until the end of the month at townofnederland.col orado.gov/press-release/ nederland-creative-brand ing-identity-final-surveynow-live.