Attached To The Bakersfield Squiggle
They want to get rid of the 'squiggle"? Oh no! I love the squiggle personally, the way it portrays the mountains all around and the sun, vibrant as ever above. Why change it is my question?This to me reminds me of when they wanted to update the Seattle Washington (my home town) motto from The Queen City to The Emerald City. What the h...? How ridiculous was that? We weren't talking The Wizard of Oz there for crying out loud!
And why, why would we want to say "life as it should be" under a leaf for the "i" in Bakersfield. Who the heck are we?...Canadians? the moral authority?
Bakersfield needs to keep the artsy squiggle logo, not try to put up walls with the appearance of moral judgment as a moral authority. I vote to keep this one, the squiggle forever or at least until we find a truly unique logo that is picked by and for Bakersfieldians... to replace it with.
Here's an article in the Bakersfield Californian from today.
Officials to consider adopting new logo for city
| Thursday, Jun 22 2006 9:55 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Jun 22 2006 10:28 PM
A local movement is afoot to run the infamous "squiggle" out of town and replace it with something leafy.
Photo of proposed Logo:
The Squiggle logo, top, is in danger of being replaced by the new design, above.
City officials will consider dumping the abstract squiggle logo in favor of a simple "Bakersfield," highlighted with a green leaf and the slogan: Life as it should be.
Sheryl Barbich, head of the Greater Bakersfield Vision 2020 community-planning group, told the Bakersfield City Council Wednesday night that the squiggle logo that greets travelers as they drive into town should be replaced by a more "welcoming" image.
Not only that, she said, the squiggle should be replaced by a new image throughout the city.
Council members appeared enthused by the idea, promising to seriously consider it at their July 17 Community Services committee meeting.
"The new logo has a much clearer message," said Councilwoman Sue Benham, who's on the committee with Councilwomen Jacquie Sullivan and Irma Carson.
"I like the new one," Carson said. "It stands out a little bit more."
Logo vs. logo
The two logos couldn't be less alike.
The squiggle, adopted by the council about a decade ago, is an abstract rendering of the mountains, valley floor and the sun.
The leaf logo, which can be seen more and more around town, is a simple "Bakersfield" with a leaf replacing the dot in the "i." Underneath the city's name is the "Life as it should be" slogan.
Over the years, the squiggle has appeared on more and more things.
City vehicles. At the top of official documents. Tiles in the men's bathroom at City Hall.
Enough is enough, Barbich said.
Barbich said she wants to tell outsiders Bakersfield is a much more vibrant, beautiful place than is common perception. And she's tired of explaining what the squiggle signifies.
"It's time to put the field back in Bakersfield," she said.
History tells us this area once contained Col. Thomas Baker's field. Travelers coming west for gold would stop at the colonel's homestead for rest. Their horses would munch on his field grass, and the colonel became known for his gracious hospitality.
"That's our history," Barbich said. "That's who we are."
The origin of the leaf
The leaf image came from the Cresta Group, a Chicago-based marketing group whose clients include Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Apple Computers.
According to its 2003 "Brand Strategy Overview," Cresta and the city came up with an image after paying a New Jersey-based research group about $60,000 to research Bakersfield's qualities. The goals of the image were:
* Counter impressions Bakersfield is a dry, hot, baked place and convey it's green, alive and naturally bountiful;
* Illustrate Bakersfield is sought after by other Californians for its outdoor activities;
* Welcome new residents who often remark, "I knew I was home when I got here";
* Portray a place with unique, quirky sophistication.
Even the font for the leaf logo took a lot of work, said Sara Beugen, general manager of the Los Angeles office of the Cresta Group. Beugen was one of the designers, whom Barbich said were paid around $55,000 for their work.
"It's soft, with an elegance," Beugen said.
Those who don't like the slogan of "Life as it should be" might be heartened to know the runner-up was: "Bakersfield: It Works for Me."
To create momentum for the new logo, supporters have created a Web site for it: bakersfieldlifeasitshouldbe.org. On it people can buy rayon shirts, white terry velour robes, or 16-ounce travel mugs emblazoned with the leaf.
If the council adopts the new logo, the first order of business would be removing the squiggle monuments that greet travelers at the city's entrance points on Highway 99, Barbich said.
It'd be costly.
The monuments cost $261,000. to build at the time, said city spokeswoman Rhonda Smiley.
And since then, she said, "concrete prices have risen exponentially."
Barbich said Chevron has donated money to help replace the entrance signs and she hopes for more community support.
Squiggle's days numbered?
Eventually, Barbich wants the logo to be unifying, replacing the squiggle and its predecessor, "Bakersfield: City of Golden Opportunities."
The history of the squiggle, though, shows that sometimes, logos come, and logos go.
Pat Griffin of the Bakersfield public relations firm Griffin Communications was part of the team that developed the squiggle for the Bakersfield Convention & Visitors Bureau in 1995.
The squiggle was one of eight or nine designs that Griffin presented to the bureau, Griffin said. At first, she said, she didn't even want to include the squiggle among the other designs, thinking Bakersfield was far too conservative to choose such an abstract symbol.
But the bureau loved it, and adopted it.
And then City Council saw it, loved it, and used it.
"If we had only known how much it would still be around," Griffin said.
posted by Susan R Allen | 6:33 AM
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