Rules committee recommends official Richland County logo to full county board

The Richland County Rules and Strategic Planning Standing Committee on May 5 voted unanimously to recommend that the full County Board adopt a base county logo and an accompanying branding model.

Administration staff and the committee’s branding subcommittee, working with a design consultant and the Southwest Regional Planning Commission, presented a package of logo options and a proposed branding manual developed over four public meetings. The package included a base county logo and several department-level variations intended to create a family of related marks that departments could use while retaining a cohesive county identity.

Committee members questioned how much department-level variation should be permitted and raised concerns about cost for signage, vehicles and letterheads. Committee members were shown language in the proposed resolution that would implement the branding manual “at the administrator’s direction and as appropriate when considering budgetary constraints, marketing plans of individual departments, sign and vehicle replacement schedules, or other critical decision points,” language intended to limit short-term budget impacts.

Discussion also covered whether the county and the City of Richland Center logos should be visually compatible; staff said the city and county efforts were at different stages but that the design consultant had tried to maintain visual relativity in colors and fonts.

The committee voted to forward the resolution recommending the base logo and model to the full County Board for final action; the committee recorded a 7–0 vote in favor.

Ending

The branding manual and resolution will be prepared for the County Board agenda; departments that want variations will work with the design consultant and administration to ensure consistency and budget-conscious rollouts.