Austin scraps historic city crest for 'inclusive' squiggly lines after 7-year, $1.1 million effort

The city of Austin, Texas, is spending $1.1 million on a project to give the locale its "first-ever brand" in order to identify the city across different local government departments. The goal of the rebrand is to help engage the community with services, and the city said the rebrand was shaped by feedback from a "diverse cross-section of community members and City employees."

The rebrand has apparently been seven years in the making, since 2018, according to KVUE. The city voted in 2018 to make a cohesive brand for the city and to make it a strategic priority. 

City manager TC Broadnax announced the "rebrand" for the city this week. “Whether they see the brand on a website, a utility bill, a street sign or the side of a vehicle, they will know exactly who it’s from and what it stands for,” Broadnax said. The city partnered with TKO Advertising as well as Pentagram in order to streamline the branding across city services and agencies.

The contract with the firms amounted to around $564,000, and there was also $200,000 spent on outreach. "Overall, when you look at all the things that we're putting together, [the cost of the project is] about $1.1 million," Jessica King, the city's chief communications director, said.

The city said that the official seal is not a brand and "does not promote the city's distinctive values and mission." The city said that the move, costing over a million dollars in local tax funds, was for a "strategic modernization, not just a visual update."

"The logo itself reflects the hills, rivers, and bridges that serve to connect us to one another. The colors were inspired by our surrounding environment – violet crown skies and the green canopies of our parks and trails," King said. "We deliberately chose a mark that reminded us of movement to reflect how welcoming, flexible and resilient this community and our employees are."

The official launch of the logo and "rebrand" is on October 1, with the rollout beginning on digital platforms first.