The Tourism Department of the U.S. state of Wisconsin unveiled a new logo and branding in March of this year. The logo shows a silhouette of a person cart wheeling over the words Wisconsin, with the slogan “Live like you mean it” underneath it.
Unfortunately, not very many people liked either the logo or the slogan. Critics slammed the department for using a slogan that had been previously widely used by authors, motivational speakers and even Bacardi, the drinks company, while the cart wheeling figure was met with general scorn.
The slogan has been “temporarily” sidelined by the Department of Tourism while it is being reviewed. The state is working with a new advertising firm Laughlin Constable. Tourism secretary Kelli Trumble said:
We’re evaluating our work on that and believe me, we’re listening to feedback.There are those who love it and those who absolutely don’t. We know in our business that marketing is subjective.
Stories like this beg the question, was there any research done? It seems the logo was developed using market research. The red in the cart wheeling figure symbolizes the passion and pride of the state, while the green in “Wisconsin” symbolizes the state’s natural resources. Logos and branding don’t come cheap and this project came in at over US $57,000.
It seems like Wisconsin is having lots of problems with logos this year. The Government Accountability Board, is facing derision for launching a new logo that looks similar to the symbol for anarchy. The board paid a design firm $4,900 to create the logo.
Government and Anarchy – separated at birth?
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This is also after the recent Tourism Federation of Wisconsin name change. I swear there are some of us in Wisconsin that don’t do stupid stuff like this.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:36 am
who designed sitepoint’s logo? You explained why Wisconsin used the colors red, green and what the whole whole logo was trying to convey. Which brings up the question, what is sitepoints logo saying?
Again, i’m not a desinger but trying to understand something about it. So, if I asked something that seems like common sense, just ignore it. :)
Nice article Jennifer
October 29th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
That’s pretty funny. From having lived there (briefly, thankfully), I can tell you that the carpe diem theme of Wisconsin’s logo certainly runs counter to the staid subculture of the people who live there. Not to say that somebody shouldn’t shake it up a little, but I guess the $57,000 package didn’t include common sense.
.
But the ‘A’ logo takes the cake — not just anarchy and government, but anarchy and the Government Accountability Board. Hmm……now let’s think about that for a minute……
October 29th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
What about this logo ? (just turn you head 90° CCW while whatching it)
> OGC unveils new logo to red faces
Actually, that’s the name that was wrong…
Anyway, Logo design is a critical factor for branding credibility.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Stories like this don’t beg the question, they raise the question. Sorry to be “that guy”, but you are picking things apart here.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:54 am
Don’t forget Wisconsin Tourism Federation (WTF). http://bit.ly/A0nh8
October 30th, 2009 at 3:30 am
Adil K, It looks to me like the Sitepoint logo is a “S” (running through the middle in the white space) and on the sides you have some arrows pointing in different directions, which probably refer to all of the links or directions you can go in after reading Sitepoint. I think it’s a pretty good logo. It’s simple enough and quite memorable.
Brock
Catchlight Design
http://www.catchlight.co.nz
October 30th, 2009 at 7:04 am
Adil K, It looks to me like the Sitepoint logo is a “S” (running through the middle in the white space) and on the side you have some arrows pointing in different directions, which probably refer to all of the links or directions you can go in after reading Sitepoint. I think it’s a pretty good logo. It’s simple enough and quite memorable.
Brock
October 30th, 2009 at 7:04 am
IMO, that GAO logo is a prime example of designers just doing something they liked without considering the needs of their client. It’s not a bad logo, but definitely not for any government entity.
October 30th, 2009 at 7:42 am