City logos is a special topic. Often, new emblems meet critics from residents and people on social media for the odd design or lack of expressiveness. And that’s the case of the city of Florence, Alabama, where the new city logo even made the residents create a petition on Change.org requesting to restore the previous insignia.
At the moment, the petition has collected almost 8,000 signatures as people are resenting the renovation of Florence’s logotype. The emblem features a capital “F” and “lo”, placed one on another, forming a kind of an exclamation mark. In the full version, the “lo” symbol is highlighted in Olive Yellow (a brand color) within a white lettering. The design is complemented by the tagline “Live For More“.
Indeed, the design solution may seem strange, especially compared to the seal of Florence which looks more serious, while featuring a heraldic Fleur-de-lys. While people’s disapproval is deepened by the fact that the rebranding, created by a design company from Birmingham, cost $25,000, being a waste of taxpayers money, the Council and Mayor say the presented emblem is intended to convey the residents’ love and passion for the city as well as their pride and admiration.
This is one more example of a poor update of a city visual identity that we saw many times before. And the design probably gives rise for the Florence residents to exclaim “F!” as they look at this logo.
