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City of Hutchinson unveils 'Team Hutch' branding; youth council invited to participate in logo planning
Summary
Jessica Woodyard of the City of Hutchinson's Public Communications office presented a new city branding effort called 'Team Hutch' developed with local agency Bowercom using a $7,000 Hutchinson Community Foundation grant; the youth council discussed the brand and voted to bring their own logo redesign into a study session.
Jessica Woodyard, public communications director for the City of Hutchinson, presented the city’s new brand identity, called Team Hutch, and described the four-month process that produced a new logo, color palette and a set of playful patterns tied to local assets (sun, space, sandhills, state fair, streams, sports, salt and “Smallville”). Woodyard said the initial process was funded by a grant from the Hutchinson Community Foundation: “We applied for a grant and received, about $7,000 to do this process.”
The presentation said the work was done with local marketing agency Bowercom and included interviews with about a dozen department heads, community meetings, and a goal of reflecting both staff and resident views. The new identity leans on the city flag’s star (used inside the letter O in the wordmark), a palette drawn from the flag’s blue and yellow plus lighter accent colors, and a library of patterns intended for murals, flags along Highway 61, website mock-ups, brochures for new residents, staff shirts and interior wayfinding (Woodyard cited the city’s billing office as an interior surface that could be refreshed).
Woodyard emphasized a phased rollout to avoid one-time large expenditures: implementation will be gradual so the city can spread costs rather than replace all signage and materials at once. She also described recent community meetings used to gather public input — sticky-note exercises, written responses and evening sessions in multiple parts of town — and said the communications team plans smaller district-by-district meetings going forward.
Youth council members asked about involvement and training; Woodyard offered to explore ways for youth to help with branding, produce brochures for new residents and participate as ambassadors. The council also discussed whether to update the Youth City Council logo to match the city brand. A motion to include the U City Council logo redesign as an item in an upcoming study session passed on roll call: Wellington — yes; Holtz — yes; Moseley — yes; Lemonyan — yes.
No city budget line was committed at the meeting for wholesale replacement; Woodyard stated the grant covered the initial identity work but not full implementation. She said the city will continue community outreach, and offered to coordinate with youth council members on public-speaking or civic-engagement resources.
