Town Reveals New Logo

The Town of Brome Lake unveiled their newly designed logo at the last council meeting and the first real-world sightings were seen in town ads in local newspapers in mid-June. The new logo is quite a departure from the old logo and…well…let’s just say that it is a real departure!

The new logo looks a bit like a cross between a tattoo and a doodle…but with a stylized duck head…so we’ll say that the best name we’ve heard so far to describe the new town logo is…wait for it “the ducky tadoodle”!

Apparently we’ll be seeing more and more of the “ducky tadoodle” on letterheads, in print advertisements and maybe on town trucks and notices. Anyone in business knows that changing a corporate logo usually involves great expense to re-mark vehicles, business cards etc. Imagine when a town or city changes a logo! I wonder if our fairly recent Brome Lake street signs, with their blue and rather natural looking birds in flight logo will be changed to accommodate the new graffitiesque logo.

DK’s un-scientific eavesdropping of the Knowlton coffee-shop crowd revealed mixed reactions ranging from classic indifference to disbelief that this new logo was going to be the new catalyzing symbol of our various merged towns. The regal Cowansville logo looks like a coat of arms straight from a proud history and heritage while the Bromont logo, with the sleek modern font, conjures up a symbol of a town on the move.

Such things, cannot be said for the new Brome Lake logo, as far as my naive eye can tell. There is, of course, hope that the newly revealed logo will remain as a rarely seen image on adverts and not plastered on signs around the region but if not we will surely get used to it in time. Call me a traditionalist but I prefer a more...well...traditional look to a town insignia instead of a modernly-fangled approach. I would take an old-fashioned coat-of arms over a fancy modern design any day and today is another one of those days!

While the Mayor touched briefly on the symbolism of the new design when it was unveiled at the last council meeting, (the Fleur-de lys and a duck) it is still hard to grasp what the designer of the logo was out to achieve. Is that really supposed to be a stylized Fleur-de-lys? I’m not sure if it’s just me who has noticed that the fleur de lys is not exactly a popular symbol being displayed by residents in Knowlton…even on June 24th in Knowlton there is barely a Fleur-de-lys in sight unless it’s a mini-flag hanging from a Harley Davidson as a group of motorcyclists from The Beauce roar through town on their way to a real St-Jean party! Of course the local merchants do their part to display the Quebec flag during the Saint-Jean holiday but the town hardly is known for waving the blue and white so the sudden appearance of a fleur de lys is a surprise...do we now have to change all our street signs?!

The logo is cold instead of bold, with thin lines that look more like a mock-up not a finished product and the duck head with it’s un-friendly look appears to be in a pot of soup that is boiling over or behind the bars of some macabre wrought iron cage!

Who designed this? Was there any sort of design contest like many towns have to invite children from local schools and residents to explore their creative sides and express what the town means by submitting their drawings? Wouldn’t a public vote on a new logo have been fun? Those sorts of contests always bring out the best in people and we often are surprised by the results! When I was a boy growing up in the Northwest-Territories our school had a logo design contest and all the kids submitted bright crayon drawings of a school crest. The chosen logo was drawn by an Inuit girl in the Fourth Grade and the crest is still being used by the school today and everyone is so proud of it because it came from one of their own!

Apparently, in this case, instead of going to find out what the population thought would best represent the town as a formal crest, an ad agency known as LG 2 was mandated to design this new logo. Using a Fleur-de-lys and a duck doesn’t show much of a creative leap to me nor does it seem to invoke or represent a real history of the community and the actual style of the work, according to my art-school drop-out sensibilities, does not measure up to par with the town logos or coats of arms that I’ve seen that not only tell a story but are ripe with symbols that reflect the inhabitants of a particular place.

What is this LG 2 ad agency… I took a look through their design portfolio and see that they are responsible not only for the Hydro-Quebec ads and Caise Populaire but also are the creative geniuses behind such thoughtful and creative reaches as this image of a man with a stocking over his face pointing a gun to a victims head and this rather pedestrian "artsy" take on a radical booze label with the sort of fonts that are popular amongst designer debutantes:

Surely we can’t cast a judgment based on one image from an ad agency but goodness me…with such images in a portfolio it is surprising to me that they were even chosen to design a logo for our wholesome little town! Maybe Ozzy Osbourne could write our homecoming song? Visiting the LG 2 website isn't much of a treat for an old fashioned bloke like myself either because the darned website doesn't even work...or maybe I'm a dunce? I guess the early bird gets the worm and LG 2 really must have bagged a plump one!

According to what I read in the paper, the ad agency LG 2 gave a “deal” to the town because one of the folks involved in the ad agency LG 2 is from the area. Thanks for the $5000 deal on the logo…it looks to me that if the agency was being paid by the hour for their design work it works out to about $4500 per hour…I think the ad agency got the best of that “deal”! Heck it’s a line drawing! See the LG 2 Ad Agency Website for more of their works...and don't forget to ask for the Knowlton Deal! ;)

My meager survey of people over a hot lunch seems to concur that a contest to design a logo would have been well received by everyone.

I can say that I wouldn’t buy a souvenir t-shirt with the “the ducky tadoodle” on the front. Although…when I look closer…the new “ducky tadoodle” does seem to have the genetic cross between West Coast Choppers crossed with a Bio Hazard Warning Label … so it might just appeal to the younger kids and maybe that was the goal of the LG 2 Ad Agency.

Heck…maybe this new logo is getting rave reviews from the rest of the town and I’ll be proven wrong…it wouldn’t be the first time!