Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 11, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba It sunday Zane Winnipeg free press Margo Goodhand 6977076 d d i March 2001 a goddess Back to Earth Rashmika shaky was revered As a goddess in Nepal until she hit when she was discarded of Lego maniacs Rule the world Little connective pieces give every kid a Chance to be an inventor locomotion is new Winnipeg logo too or does it create just the right image by Leah Hendry a stylish red Stetson offers a tip of the hat to Calgary Western the blinking lights of the Golden Gate Bridge speak of san Francisco and a Palm tree stands for the Sun and Sand of it might be a Phoenix rising out of the ashes or a Catchy nickname like the big Apple these a City an identity and a glimpse of what it has to be it ski ing through powder or sipping a Slushy Winnipeg recently joined the Brand ing game when it dropped its coat of arms and adopted a colourful we wanted an image that was exciting and said mayor Glen Mur who Felt Winnipeg was suffering from a stodgy image and overused stereotypes such As the with the help of focus particular images and colours were picked and Over six graphic designers created an but what does it mean the exact meaning behind the new logo is up for it can be seen As a rising Sun Over a wide open Prairie or a leaping dancer that ties into Winnipeg Strong arts and cultural the four colours could also represent the dra Matic seasonal changes and the red the heart of the Community or win Nipges Central location in North there is no one thing that represents said Guy a partner at Deschenes the local design firm that created the the criteria for the logo was that it evoke a feel ing of Forward Community and although Many City logos focus Regnier Felt a literal image was too Many would like to see something More representative but As soon As you do you alienate Regnier one logo that was rejected for being too literal was a group of abstract buildings at the Side of a although there is a certain likeness in colours and celebratory feel to olympics and pan am games Murray Felt the similarity was positive it will never looked dated or symbolic look the design is also simple and which has caused some critics to say their child could have drawn but Many of these same people would say the same of a Picasso said Eric an instructor in new Media at red River interpretation is entirely it has a symbolic Crone it May not represent anything More than a feeling or a but its an improvement Over the old coat of he Felt the new logo was a Good move by the who is trying to pull Winnipeg out of the cel Lar leagues in Canada and get Winni Eggers to feel More positive about the perhaps a stronger sense of what it Means to live in Winnipeg could have been accomplished by the meet ing of the red and Assiniboine Rivers the traditional beginnings of the City said Mike a former Winnipeg Ger who now works for Brown com f i strata Golf balls Job search website Manitoba egg producers without some Concrete ele ment that would tie it to the it just becomes another Brush stroke logo and we have too Many of those a Toronto graphic designer financial planners transitions eyeglass lenses superstore Brand laundry detergent global television network Haw Cable to invent is automation controls Industry Mun cations As a graphic designer in Portage and main also could have been As its easily identifiable As the coldest Corner in North although some people might see the Blus Tery Corner As a negative Woroniak thinks it could easily be turned into a its memorable and easily Woroniak Woroniak said most cities try to avoid focusing on the past too much because they would pre Fer to be known As progressive and everyone wants to be the Silicon valleys of the but simply cannot be Woroniak How important is branding think of the Nike there int much to but people immediately know what it stands for strength and coca cola and Mcdonalds have also stood the test of time with the advantage of billions of advertising dollars behind them so there is no mistake that Golden Arches stand for burgers and top so according to John a Toronto graphic designer who recently redesigned the report on business Magazine logo and helped the Magazine choose the worlds top 50 a Good logo captures the essence of a City As Sim ply As but simple Doest mean dumb ing it it needs to be done with a lot of logos will be designed stylistically rather than really looking at what is unique or said who works for Concrete design communications not to say there Arent the current hot styles include swirling Brush half Moons and globes some of which appear in the Winnipeg but when everyone starts to put a Globe or Moon into their it loses its distinctive the ism logo was on the cutting Edge when it introduced stripes to give the letters the illusion of but now everyone does it and the lines become meaning Pylypczak although he immediately picked up on the link Between Calgary and the Cowboy Pylypczak int entirely convinced that a logo is appropriate for a you cant package Pylypczak a City is about the the architecture and the feel ing within a Pylypczak generally liked the look of the Winnipeg logo design for its colourful Brush but Felt it failed to say anything distinctive about the what makes this logo appropriate to Winnipeg Edmonton or Des Moines or Helsinki Pylypczak without some Concrete element that would tie it to the it just becomes another Brush stroke logo and we have too Many of those not everyone has an Eiffel Tower or a big but if there is a landmark that stands the City should Latch onto it because people understand Pylypczak abstract designs can but Are More difficult to carry the secret behind a successful design is making sure the designer keeps in mind that it cant be everything to Pylypczak Points in the it Doest matter what people say is there the real test will be How it lives and works on the if people relate to if it the logo is not out there with a Brief beside it explaining what it Woroniak agrees that the True essence of the City has to come through initiatives beyond the Over the logo will become the identifier for the cites personality through economic development and let it become the Symbol of a new spirit of the just make sure the spirit happens by the people responsible for it Woroniak costly Colour hard to maintain a great logo can make a City look like a million 1 Dan Mcdonald should about a year Lon was struggling with its it was a Gold tree with a mauve and Pink City workers refused to put it on their cars and trucks because they thought it looked it want until Mcdonald went to an International branding conference in Toronto that he realized just How bad the logo a Guy from Indiana came up to looked at our logo and told me in a soft from where i come Trees that Colour Are said the director of communications for the City of we were trying to sell ourselves to the world with a dead piece of the tree was changed to Green to represent a theme of life and and a simple Silver background was the simple Colour scheme meant less hassle and lower printing the pinks and Gold were difficult to replicate and keep consistent on different the out pocket costs in terms of multicolour combinations is in the tens of millions of dollars Over years in printing Mcdonald have you Ever won dered Why the Federal tories got rid of the red swoosh on their election signs Mcdonald the extra Colour was costing More because it needed to be put through the Printer twice to get the that Why you used to see so Many More Liberal signs they had a simple red and White although part of the Cost of the City of Winnipeg logo was a graphic standards Manu Al that lays Down the exact Ink Mcdonald said no manual will be Able to maintain consistency across the its just not that Sim Mcdonald every time the logo is you have to Monitor it tightly because it is going to come out slightly different on a piece of Nylon or a Glossy piece of paper than it will on a baseball there is no denying Colour costs More but the City of Winnipeg feels it has a plan that will avoid these headaches because there Are variations on the there is a Black and White version that will be used on most a Gold and Blue version and a four Colour version for High profile banners and Mer the logo will typically be used in Black and White but the logo was developed to be the most it can said John printing supervisor for the City of win the logo wont drive what it can be used for its flexible so it fits i Winnipeg for the first Lime in our the City of Winnipeg has its own corporate capturing our energetic spirit through a sense of movement and the logo is a combination of visual it represents move ment and it represents our spirit of our embrace of All cultures and Back and our unique position at the heart of our Ris ing Sun on the Prairie the palette of Rich colours is an appealing representation of our physical characteristics As a evoking a seasonal and our distinct fall and they incorporate elemental undertones that evoke a Senise of fire and a balanced connection with our the combined effect of the logo and its colours becomes a metaphor for who we Are As a effectively becoming part of our identity As we can adopt use promote it and feel proud of our source City of Winnipeg ;