Five Visalia logos reluctantly sent to city council

Visalia City Logo Redesign Committee will send its top five logo selections to the Visalia City Council, even though the majority of the five-member committee weren’t enthusiastic about the choices.

The city council formed the logo redesign committee at its June 17 meeting to oversee the process of replacing the “Breaking through the V” logo, which debuted earlier this year.

The new logo was not well received by many Visalia residents.

Community members were asked to submit their designs for a new city logo, and 87 logos were submitted for consideration. The committee has narrowed the options to five designs, which they will present at the Aug. 5 city council meeting.

“None of us felt especially passionate about any of these,” committee member Carrie Groover said during Wednesday's meeting. “We did our due diligence and can’t in good conscience recommend any of them.”

“I feel comfortable with the ones we selected, but we aren’t sticking our flag in any of them,” member Lauren Walters said.

The only committee member who disagreed with the consensus was Nick Miller who “absolutely liked” entry No. 7.

Committee members expressed some concerns about the initial entries. Some members wondered how many of the submissions were created by AI.

“We don’t know if all these are by people from Visalia,” committee member Raymond Macareno said.

Public comments, which were an early agenda item, continued through most of Wednesday's meeting. When the committee was able to discuss the submissions without public input, members offered their suggestions about the changes they would like to see in the five logos they selected.

Their suggestions included adding grapes to one, an orange to another, redoing mountains so they don’t look like round hills, changing a font, lowering the city name, adding hands to a clock, and making a green area in a background “look like ag.”

The committee decided not to present their suggestions until the Aug. 5 city council meeting so they don’t influence the public comment period that begins on Monday, July 15.

The committee was also given the responsibility of recommending compensation for the designer of the logo ultimately selected.

“Whoever solves this problem needs to be compensated,” Miller said.

After hearing suggested amounts ranging from $300 to $10,000, the committee decided to recommend that the designer of the city’s new logo be awarded a minimum of $1,500 and given some recognition, such as a plaque.

The public can view and comment on the five logo options by visiting www.visalia.city/refresh from July 15 to 26. A link there will take them to a page with each of the logos and a public comment submission area.

After July 26, public comments will be forwarded, along with the logo committee’s comments, to the city council before its Aug. 5 meeting where will have the option of selecting Visalia’s new logo.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Committee reluctantly picks five city of Visalia logo options