City of Vancouver to vote on new $8K logo

[Armind]

It's a new low when Surrey's logo is better than Vancouver's LOL!


Signed my name on that list.

Originally Posted by dapperfied

Feels good knowing many companies stand behind the open letter. Nailed it.

[6o4__boi]

Looking at Moonbeam's gf, and his calling of the now previous city logo "lame."

This guy has horrible taste.

[twitchyzero]

would you guys rather have the city spend another $186000 for a design that's now considered the gold standard? I would haha

that's how much Melbourne spent...and it's quite the conversation-starter

[Timpo]

'Infuriating': Designer shocked at similarity between his Chilliwack logo and new Vancouver mark
City of Chilliwack commissioned Daniel Mansell in 2011
By Rhianna Schmunk, CBC News Posted: Feb 24, 2017 1:16 PM PT Last Updated: Feb 24, 2017 9:06 PM PT
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...otos-1.3998333


The City of Chilliwack logo was commissioned in 2011. The new City of Vancouver wordmark was approved by council earlier this week. (City of Chilliwack/City of Vancouver)

The entrepreneur behind the City of Chilliwack's logo said he was left shocked and frustrated after he saw the City of Vancouver's brand new wordmark, which bears a resemblance to his 2011 creation.

Dan Mansell said a friend tagged him in a Facebook post about the Vancouver's new branding after it was approved by city councillors earlier this week.

"I couldn't believe it," Mansell said. "I was really shocked."

Vancouver rebranding panned on social media
The designer owns Basecamp Creative, a Chilliwack-based design company. He was commissioned to create the city's new branding six years ago.

The resulting logo, which features a mountain illustration inspired by the Fraser Valley's Cheam mountain range, was trademarked by city officials that same year.

Vancouver began plans to refresh its logo in June, according to a report, with the goal of creating something simpler and more social-media friendly.


Three standard versions of Vancouver's new wordmark were created for use across city assets, which will be updated over the course of 2017. (City of Vancouver)


'We share the same highway'

Mansell said he thinks the two designs are "too close to be a coincidence."

"If this was a city in Australia, I wouldn't be so mad. If this was a city in a different part of Canada, whatever. But this ... we share the same highway."

"My bet is that the designer was researching other city branding and looked at what I did with the City of Chilliwack and maybe subconsciously copied it or got too fixated [on it]," he said. "But I obviously don't know the process for sure."

Mansell said he submitted "four or five drafts" of the branding before it was ultimately approved by Chilliwack city council.

He declined to say how much he received for the project, but said it was "certainly less" than the $8,000 shelled out by Vancouver.

"That's the extra infuriating part," the designer said.

Trademark law

Mansell hasn't decided whether or not he'll pursue legal action but said he will be "exploring all of his options."

However, a Vancouver-based trademark lawyer says there might not be many options for the designer to explore.

Upon its completion, Mansell transferred copyright of the artwork to the City of Chilliwack.

Because he no longer owns rights to the artwork, Andrei Mincov says it's unlikely the designer would have a successful copyright case.

The lawyer said Chilliwack could pursue action against the City of Vancouver, but that "there may not be much that can be done."

"With officials marks, the copyright standard is that they look at [the visual] as a whole," Mincov said. "Copyright doesn't require a high standard for originality."

He said the Chilliwack logo's unique mountain element could be the key differentiator in a potential case.

CBC News has reached out to the City of Vancouver for comment.

[Timpo]

Here, $8,000 each.

https://twitter.com/bychrischeung

[underscore]

If the cities coordinated ahead of time to make all their logos match like that it wouldn't be a half bad idea, then there would be a unified look across the lower mainland. But just ripping off the design of a neighbouring city is pretty poor.

[G0rilla]

This is really depressing, ladies and gentleman this is where our taxes are going towards. The old logo was way better, you cant just slap some colors to block letters and says its a "logo"

[Timpo]

BC municipalities should be investing tax $ for infrastructures like Japanese cities and prefectures are always famous for.

Instead of wasting money & time on logos and potential legal action against each other.
The City of Vancouver will be spending $150,000 so far on new logo(a few signs on highway), and it doesn't even include replacing all the banners and logos on city vehicles, buildings like city hall, etc. So after all the cost, I think the new logo will cost them 7 figure.

The mayor and council have been wasting shit load of time debating about new logo.

The new logo isn't going to contribute making Vancouver a better place. They should be dealing with real problems or invest in real potential.

Like Kevin O'Leary said, Canadian politicians suck. Plain and simple.
He said lack of productibility of Canadian politicians and government workers is driving him crazy.

[320icar]

new logo isn't going to contribute making Vancouver a better place. They should be dealing with real problems or invest in real potential.

Timpo, that's the most intelligent thing you've ever posted.

[Eff-1]

I actually don't have much of an issue that the city spent $8k on a logo. If they chose to spend $20k $50k or $100k (which they could have easily done) then taxpayers would be raging over the cost. $8k for a logo design is incredibly cheap.

My problem is that the logo they chose is boring, flat and uninspiring at best. Talk about an extreme missed opportunity to do something we could all be proud of. Idiots.

[Timpo]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

I actually don't have much of an issue that the city spent $8k on a logo. If they chose to spend $20k $50k or $100k (which they could have easily done) then taxpayers would be raging over the cost. $8k for a logo design is incredibly cheap.

My problem is that the logo they chose is boring, flat and uninspiring at best. Talk about an extreme missed opportunity to do something we could all be proud of. Idiots.

You call that a logo? It's just a generic font and color.

As CTV News said, they could've spent $6.95 on online logo creator and got the same thing.

[Timpo]

^ in case you're confused, logos are something like..

[a00755836]

vancouver just doesn't know when to stop wasting money. can't they spend $8000 fixing some potholes?

[RRxtar]

Looks like a few people are forgetting 2 things here. $8000 on a hundreds of millions or billion dollar annual budget is peanuts. But unfortunately it isnt just $8000 on a logo. They have to rebrand every single bit if signage and work vehicle. It will be a million dollars for sure.

[Traum]

^^ Don't forget that the procedurally, CoV jumped the gun and went ahead to use the new logo before it was approved by city council. That alone should have rendered the new logo ineligible for official use.

[dapperfied]

Online sites that create logos don't provide brand guidelines..
Generic font? A generic font wouldn't cost $200.

Originally Posted by Timpo

You call that a logo? It's just a generic font and color.

As CTV News said, they could've spent $6.95 on online logo creator and got the same thing.

"Hold my beer, I know everything about logos" — Timpo

Originally Posted by Timpo

^ in case you're confused, logos are something like..

Spoiler!

[AzNightmare]

They should have used this for their logo.

[heisenberg]

i think everyone is over reacting about this.

i used to work for the city of vancouver in parks and recreation, there is quite a lot of drama between the different sectors.
rec centres not agreeing to join together to make all things uniform, logos, community centre flyers.
this could be a small step into making all recreation possible for new immigrants in the city.

instead of seeing, 15 different flyers for 15 different community centers, new immigrants could recognize the similarities between them and know,
that with low income they can apply for leisure access cards to get subsidized classes and gym passes.
instead of falling into a contract at a private gym, or private rec center.

at the same time, im not going to lie and say the city doesnt spend their money in dumb areas tho.

The problem with public sector is it's driven by tax.
You do not have to be profitable or provide best customer service & product to survive like private sector.
Which means, public sector workers can afford to slack off and waste money and be overpaid.
They also lack ambition too, compare to private sector workers. Many truly talented public sector workers will move to private sector for bigger opportunity.
However, public sector pays pretty damn well for relatively unskilled/uneducated jobs.

and to quote timpo, a lot of it is actually not driven by tax. at many rec centers you have two employers.
City of Vancouver it self, and the Recreation Center it self.
many rec centers look for funding through, program / class cost and grants to subsidize the costs and still pay their instructors / teachers.
i've had my classes canceled because of low enrollment, and not being able to get these grants.
many rec centers still try their best to fill classes to profit, to get new supplies for classes, and at the same time be able to offer free classes or free income tax clinics.
i do not know under which public sector timpo is talking about,but being watched by the public the whole time, i couldnt, or anyone couldnt slack at their job.
don't think anyone here has had a stranger yell at you to do your job better because they pay taxes, and their taxes pay my wage, so technically they're your boss.
and how you say we lack ambition, i know many people who've been in the job for 10+ years, working hard for a salaried position.
and to say the job is unskilled/uneducated? thats another topic for another day.

[Timpo]

Originally Posted by heisenberg

and to quote timpo, a lot of it is actually not driven by tax. at many rec centers you have two employers.
City of Vancouver it self, and the Recreation Center it self.
many rec centers look for funding through, program / class cost and grants to subsidize the costs and still pay their instructors / teachers.
i've had my classes canceled because of low enrollment, and not being able to get these grants.
many rec centers still try their best to fill classes to profit, to get new supplies for classes, and at the same time be able to offer free classes or free income tax clinics.
i do not know under which public sector timpo is talking about,but being watched by the public the whole time, i couldnt, or anyone couldnt slack at their job.
don't think anyone here has had a stranger yell at you to do your job better because they pay taxes, and their taxes pay my wage, so technically they're your boss.
and how you say we lack ambition, i know many people who've been in the job for 10+ years, working hard for a salaried position.
and to say the job is unskilled/uneducated? thats another topic for another day.

Rec centers? You do realize that rec centers are part of municipality/city too right?

I don't know what kind of instructor you were, but say people are paying $7/hr for your class, typically rec centers want 30% profit, if you're getting $30/hr after lieu in benefit (assuming you're an auxiliary employee) the rec center won't approve unless 6 to 7 people register for your class.

Remember, that does not include the cost to keep the lights on, sound system, maintenance cost, etc.

The rec centers do not typically make money, the cost to operate swimming pool and skating rink is very high. Think about filtering system, maintenance cost, pay all the employee, hydro, etc.

The municipal accounting department (city hall) will have to approve the budget each year(which comes from tax) for rec center spendings. Also if they don't spend it, they won't approve for next year, so the rec centers tend to spend money on something unnecessary.

Once you get into recreation programming or even management level, you will very quickly learn how inefficient and political they are.

[Ch28]

Statement from Mayor Gregor Robertson on City of Vancouver Wordmark | Mayor Gregor Robertson

Looks like they're scrapping it and coming up with a new one with more insight from the local design community and public.

[Manic!]

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by Ch28

Statement from Mayor Gregor Robertson on City of Vancouver Wordmark | Mayor Gregor Robertson

Looks like they're scrapping it and coming up with a new one with more insight from the local design community and public.

would rather they just stop it altogether and stop wasting $. keep it as-is, it's fine. like said above, the money could be spent elsewhere like fixing potholes ...


if when it snows clear more than just bike lanes

[Armind]

VICTORY!

Originally Posted by Ch28

Statement from Mayor Gregor Robertson on City of Vancouver Wordmark | Mayor Gregor Robertson

Looks like they're scrapping it and coming up with a new one with more insight from the local design community and public.

[Hondaracer]

This scrap and re and re is gonna cost a lot more than 8k.

With thay said that Melbourne logo is fucking awesome

[Armind]

I hope we out do Melbourne's logo

Would be sweet if i get to be part of the rebrand as a GDC member. But being a certified GDC member means paying $400 a year. -_-"