More than six months after launching an initiative aiming to update Heber City’s brand, the Heber City Council is less than thrilled with proposed designs.
Ryan Bunnell, the general manager and cofounder of the company the city contracted to complete the design — Ignition Creative Group — presented several possible alternatives to the current logo during the council’s Aug. 1 meeting.
The designs were met with several councilors’ disapproval.
Speaking with The Park Record, Bunnell said this wasn’t the first time he presented to the council regarding the initiative. During the meeting, he shared the last logo he presented with the product he had updated.
“What’s happened since our last meeting is that I was able to meet with various members of council independently and collect some feedback, and that is where we created these revisions from,” Bunnell said during the meeting. “We have, in broad strokes, tried to simplify it and make it more compatible with modern approaches to printing, embroidery, different marketing applications.”
He also showed multiple variations of the branding design and logo that would be appropriate for a variety of uses such as decaling vehicles and embroidering shirts.
“I don’t think we’re going the right direction,” councilor Scott Phillips said. “I think this logo takes us back. … I really like our current logo better than this one.”
The discussion turned towards what council members would like to see in a logo, with several of them saying they wanted something more “progressive.”
“As a marketing standpoint, I don’t feel we can win a progressive contest,” Bunnell said in response. “I don’t think that fits our identity, and that’s the reason why we’ve been going down this path.”
The conceptually historic new logo, he continued, would be a “unique market identifier” for Heber City.
Councilor Yvonne Barney considered the word “progressive,” and said she felt several cities moving into and embracing the future do so successfully when they acknowledge their historic roots. She shared her concern that Heber City currently has no identity, an issue she said a representative from a main street revitalization program shared with the municipality after seeing the city.
Other than some curly aspects of the designs, she said she liked it and believed the council’s constituents would as well.
Mayor Heidi Franco said she liked the proposed design, curly letters and all.
Council Member Ryan Stack agreed with Phillips’ comments, saying he didn’t see a need to change the current logo.
“For me, this just doesn’t hit,” he said. “I don’t look at this and feel a connection.”
The current mark, he explained, is bold, clean, simple and incorporates the city’s history through its use of a tabernacle.
Bunnell pushed for direction on changes the council would like to see, saying that would give him a place to start edits.
Phillips suggested the incorporation of Mount Timpanogos, Councilor Mike Johnston said he liked both the current and presented logo, Stack repeated that he didn’t see a need for change and both Barney and Stack agreed with Phillips that Mount Timpanogos might add to an updated logo.
Barney also said she would support more direct constituent feedback in which logo they would support.
Bunnell eventually said he would create a variety of possible future logos and would explore the option of garnering community involvement in the process.
Speaking with The Park Record after the meeting, Bunnell explained the initiative for the new logo was launched by the council during its retreat in January.
The comments favoring the current design came to him as a shock. Still, after a handful of presentations he has given regarding the new logo process, he is hoping he can find a design that the whole council will readily agree on.
“When you’re trying to do creative revisions with committee, sometimes unexpected things happen,” he said. “We’re just going to slow it down a little bit and go back to the drawing board.”
Looking further into the initiative, he mentioned how the logo process points to a deeper issue: Heber City’s lack of a discernible identity.
Midway is known for its Swiss routes, he explained, and Park City for its outdoor recreation and mining history. Heber City has never had such foundational themes.
“Back in the ’80s, it was, ‘Are we cowboys? Are we Swiss?’ and recently it’s been, ‘Are we outdoor rec? Are we historic? Are we progressive?'” Bunnell explained.
“Part of my challenge with the project is not just art work, it’s that we have to come up with a cohesive identity and honestly I can’t tell you why it’s so difficult.”