Residents wait for city's newest icon

Slow introduction of new brand identity raises eyebrows, questions

Last year, a modernized, sleeker heron was selected to be the icon of tourism in Moses Lake.

This year, some people are wondering if the bird in the new logo came to life and flew away, given what they see as its underuse.

Brenda Teals from the Moses Lake Tourism Commission believes that given the investment of time, money and effort, the community should take more advantage of the logo, or 'brand identity'.

A brand identity differs from a logo in that it is meant to give more holistic representation of a business or entity, and to entice a more holistic response from the viewer, as well, touching the emotions as well as reaching a person's senses.

Teals believes that reaching out should get under way.

"It seemed logical to me," she said. "The city council put out the money, they chose it, they bought and paid for it, they should use it."

City manager Joe Gavinski said the city is indeed putting the brand identity to use. "The city is using it in tourism material, parks and recreation ads, the tourism commission and tourism-related advertising," he said.

Gavinski added that he expected further use of the brand identity as time went on. "As new stuff is prepared, (the new brand identity) will be incorporated into the new material," such as the posters for the upcoming Summer Concert Series.

"Everything that the old heron logo was identified with, is going to be replaced with the new brand identity," he said, adding that he disagreed the city was slowing the implementation of the brand identity. "It's been used by various organizations," he said.

On the other hand, Parks and Recreation director Spencer Grigg said that he did not think the city ever intended to replace its half-sun logo, seen in water towers and business cards, with the new heron.

"(The heron) was meant to represent the community," Grigg said, "which is much more than the organization we know as the City of Moses Lake."

Teals said she hoped the city would put the brand identity to a good, widespread use, which she said has not happened so far. "I could get mad at some of the city staff," she said, "but I have held my tongue, because I don't know if it will get me where I want to go," which she said is for the city to use the brand identity more.

She added, "I think I can get more flies with honey instead of flying off the handle."

Grigg said that progressively more entities had either begun using it or inquired about using the brand identity.

"The Moses Lake Business Association and the city's chamber of commerce have used it in several occasions," he said. "The post office has asked about the possibility of using it."

Grigg said that the idea of the community recognizing and identifying with the new logo "was not going to happen overnight."

Glendenning added that she knew that the introduction of the brand identity was not going to be quick. "It usually takes a period of time before it gets implemented," she said. "It seems like there is a growing understanding among people of what it is and how to use it."

Conversely, Glendenning deemed "frustrating" the fact that the process might take several years before it takes hold.

"Frustration is a part of change, and brand identity is a pretty new concept here," she said. "It's going to be the foundation on other designs such as facades, signages, and entryways. It's a slow but steady progress."

She added, "In an ideal world, every display board and design would have happened overnight, but that is unrealistic."

The creation of the brand identity is another source of divergence.

Teals said the past logos were outdated, which led to the process that ended with the creation of the new brand identity.

"The idea came from (AmeriHost Hotel owner) Bob Russell, a hotel-and-motel guy," Teals said. "He came and said, 'my business would benefit from this.'" This viewpoint, she said, sparked her interest in the creation of the brand identity.

"I was interested in listening to local hotel-and-motel people when they came before the Tax Advisory Committee," of which Teals is a member. From then on, she recalls, the matter snowballed, with the city council paying the $8,000 price tag for the final design.

Grigg offered a slightly different account of the genesis of the brand identity, pointing at Shelley Glendenning from Big Bend Community College and the interest created by the development of a paths and trails system.

The interest generated by the trails group, Grigg said, led to the conclusion that it might be time to create a new community identity mark.

The way Glendenning herself remembers it is different from both. "I recognized the brand identity component in the Vision 2020 data," she said, referring to the blueprints of downtown development ideas, "and I knew the best person to do that was Casey Cram," a graphic systems designer from Seattle.

Glendenning said she talked to Russell about bringing Cram to Moses Lake, then took the designer on a tour of the city. The trio would use the tour to take pictures of the city, which would lead to a brand identity proposal by Cram, and the election of the new brand identity.

Regardless of whose idea it was, some believe it is an idea whose time has come to put into practice, either given the $8,000 that it cost, or the fact that it was not just city council, but residents who voted on it.

"It's the standard that people voted on," Glendenning said.