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Council narrows logo options to a classic sailboat and asks designers to drop 'City of' and 'Washington'
Summary
Administrative staff presented logo concepts and color palettes; council favored a traditional sailboat mark (staff’s concept 5), agreed to remove the words “City of” (and generally not include “Washington”), and asked staff to return with refined font and color options and simplified mark variants for different uses.
The council discussed four proposed logo concepts and ancillary color palettes at the April 3 study session as part of a planned brand refresh to coincide with a new website.
Bonnie Wilkins, Director of Administrative Services, reviewed four concept layouts and several color palettes and mockups showing horizontal and vertical use cases. Council members expressed preferences, suggested typographic changes and asked that the designers produce simplified variants for small‑format uses (street signs, uniforms) as well as a full mark for correspondence and the website.
A clear informal consensus emerged around a traditional sailboat motif (presented as staff’s concept 5, a classic sailboat) and a direction to remove the leading words “City of” from the primary wordmark (several councilmembers also said omitting the state name “Washington” would be acceptable on the primary mark). Several councilmembers favored red/green colorways that match existing street signage for continuity; others preferred a blue/green palette to align with recent city materials. Councilmembers asked staff to bring back the favored sailboat mark with alternative fonts (one councilmember specifically asked for font options) and simplified single‑color and circular variants for different applications. Staff said the graphic designer would return with the refined options and examples of how the mark would appear on uniforms, signage and online.
Ending: Staff will direct the design contractor to produce refined files (classic sailboat mark in single‑color and horizontal variants), test alternative fonts and return with color palette and mockups showing the mark in signage and digital applications.
