City of Aspen, CO Unveils New Logo Designed at a Cost of $51,000

After a two-year effort to rebrand itself, the city of Aspen just unveiled a new logo, designed at a cost of $51,000, reports the AspenTimes.

The roots of the project began in 2013 after Steve Skadron, who has a professional marketing background, was elected mayor. He noticed the city did not have a unified graphic look and no written guidelines for use of its visual materials.

“It’s important that both our residents and visitors know that those are government services that their tax dollars are supporting,” said assistant city manager Sara Ott in a statement. “Having a consistent identity through our logo and branding helps people recognize the value they’re receiving for their tax dollars here in our community.”

The logo is an Aspen leaf with lines that depict a forest. A statement explained that as an aspen grove represents the community, the roots are one system but each individual tree represents its own unique strength and personality.

“We wanted to incorporate a grove in the graphic to represent the interconnected community that Aspen is,” said Katie Viola, designer, and partner of Kissane Viola, in a statement. “One department in the city can’t work without another; it’s the same as a community.”

Two years in the making. $51k. What do you reckon?