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For a small or medium sized business: $300 to $10,000+. At the very low end, you can sponsor a contest on 99designs. The prize money is up to you, but I think their floor is $300. You’ll most likely get what you pay for: an amateur logo that looks lik…

Great headline. If your cookie has a bite-sized action and your reader completes the action, I think two things happen. Their self-confidence goes up (which feels good) and their trust in you increases….

Don’t take it so seriously, Comrade!!!

COMRADES OF MELBOURNE, be proud that our lane ways are as charming as our theatres. We live in a city where around every corner a new treat triggers wonder and imagination in a uniquely cool, understated way. Over the past century, Melbourne has established itself as the creative hub of Australia.
There is, however, a problem. Lord Mayor Robert Doyle has commissioned an American design company ‘Landor Associates’ to redesign the symbol that represents us all. The problem is threefold:

1. The new symbol does not represent us or our city,

2. It has been created by someone who has not connected with Melbourne, but researched it from a distance and

3. It discredits the creativity upon which Melbourne prides itself.
A symbol is not just a picture; its defining feature is the emotional or aesthetic connection to what it represents. Peter Singline, Principal of marketing company ‘Brand DNA’, reminds us it is“the meaning we attribute to [the symbol] that determines the esteem in which we hold the brand” (Singline 2009). A shining example of this is the re branding of ‘Coca Cola’, also by Landor. The original logo was designed by Frank Robinson in 1887, and Landor remained faithful, merely tweaking it to suit a modern market. They understood that the Coca Cola symbol was not just an attractive image but one that was linked with such cherished moments as dinner with friends and family or having a coke with your Whopper meal at Hungry Jack’s on your first date.
This is what Doyle does not understand: The Melbourne logo can be impeccably researched and elegantly designed, but without proper knowledge of what it represents, it is simply a hollow image.

This is by no means Landor’s fault. If I were thrown $240,000 to design a logo, I would definitely do it, regardless of my relationship with the institution. Like any good design firm, they researched the city as much as they could, but, as with any city, one cannot know Melbourne unless one lives it.

Catriona Elder, author of ‘Being Australian’ (2007, 29) points out that cities today are so large that noone could ever meet every other citizen, however, through common education, popular culture, political rhetoric, history, images and stories, a network of shared values is created between all of us. For instance, the general Melbourne attitude toward Connex is one of exasperation, this much can be researched. However, unless you were from Melbourne, you would not chortle at mention of the Frankston line or understand that ‘Spencer Street Station’ sounds much more culturally accurate than ‘Southern Cross’.

This is a seemingly insignificant part of what defines Melbourne, yet it is something that we share as citizens. Landor, indeed, any foreign design agency, could never connect with these icons as we do because they are not a part of us, and their new logo has no true connection with us.

Judith Buckrich, in her book ‘Collins’ (2005, 5), recounts the observations of English journalist George Sala during his visit to Melbourne in 1885. Sala described Melbourne as a city “blessed with extraordinary wealth and good fortune”, Its people “impelled by progressive ideas”. It is obvious, even to a visitor, that Melbourne is an innovative and creative city. Why then does our own mayor overlook 1500 Melbourne design firms and thousands of local design students when deciding to re brand our city? Doyle stated that the new design would be synonymous with the “modern, vibrant, cool city” (Herald Sun 2009) Melbourne is today, but somehow finds the “modern, vibrant, cool” people within it incapable of creating a new, unique image.

Cato Partners, founded by Ken Cato is a Melbourne based design firm responsible for the iconic images of Pura milk, Network Seven, Commonwealth Bank, Medibank Private, Coles and countless others. One particularly interesting body of work is their Melbourne tourism logo. Cato’s web site explains that “Melbourne is like a good book, where a level of depth and complexity is experienced through diverse layers”. This illustrates absolute understanding and engagement with the city of Melbourne. We are made up of so many layers; cultural, architectural and historical. Cato Partners are one example of an innovative group of people, from Melbourne, who were able to coherently communicate the charm and wonder for which our city is renowned.
So Melbourne, how do we overcome the false labelling of our city? I have seen petitions signed and rejected in the case of London’s logo for the 2012 Olympic games, to have their mayor, accept, say that it was not the end of the world, and that he was fine with it. I have also seen Facebook groups, these are great for uniting people with a common opinion but does not necessarily demand action.

I propose the following:

1. Start a web site called melbourneunite.com.au, where designers can upload alternative Melbourne logos and citizens can vote.

2. Increase public knowledge of the website via e-mail, posters, flyers and postcards, printed by sponsors to the cause

3. Encourage well recognized Melbourne designers, personalities and media to support the cause, hence increasing interest.

4. The winning design as voted by the people of Melbourne will be fixed next to the new Melbourne logo wherever it is seen. It is important that the winning design does not cover Landor’s work as the issue is with Doyle, not Landor.

5. Persistently spread the logo as far and wide as possible, targeting the Lord Mayor’s office in particular, until the logo is changed.

Historically, this method of the majority rising above the leaders has worked, much like those who brought about the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. Although this is on a much smaller scale, the principle is the same. As said by V, the anti hero charismatically played by Hugo Weaving in the 2005 thriller V for Vendetta, “People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people”. We live in a rational and democratic country where opinions can be heard and responded to if presented well.

The year’s 2010 and I absolutely didn’t expect myself to be scourging my files of 2006. But I did. Because just this lunch, I stumbled upon the logo design of the City of Melbourne at the The Cool Hunter’s website.

I knew it’s a perfect match the first time I saw it. But just to be sure, I edited it in Photoshop and put my own M logo on top. It is near-perfect identical.

I’m not from Landor or something. But I now believe that some people could think of the same, exact, precise shapes at different times for the same purposes.