City of Cheyenne updates council on rebranding project; consultants, funding and rollout timeline discussed

City of Cheyenne officials and outside consultants provided a progress update on a citywide rebranding project at a City Council work session, outlining deliverables, funding and next steps.

The consultants said the project will yield a new logo, department sub-logos, a brand style guide, templates and an implementation plan. Matt Murphy, the city’s public information officer, said Guide Studio and y2 Consultants won the contract after an RFP and selection process that reviewed 22 proposals and that the work was paid for from interest earned on ARPA funds. "The city doesn't have any existing branding or brand standards," Murphy said, describing the need for consistency across departmental materials.

City staff and consultants said the rebrand is meant to make city communications more legible and consistent, strengthen public trust and improve the city’s outward image for economic development. Brian Evans, brand strategist for Guide Studio, said the vendor has worked on municipal place brands in multiple states and that the firm’s approach includes stakeholder engagement and implementation support. Gina Gerken, director of brand at Guide Studio, described the brand as both visual assets and an embodiment of the city’s messages and service approach: "It's the logo. It's the color palette. It is. But it's really an embodiment of all the information connected to your place and serves to create associations and expectations around it."

Consultants summarized work completed so far: a discovery and research phase including a multi-day site visit, workshops with a steering committee, department head meetings, and a public perception survey that had 892 respondents (the team said 82% were residents and that over half had lived in Cheyenne for 15 years or more). The team said they are now in the design refinement phase and have workshops planned the following week to finalize the brand implementation plan. Murphy said the team is "eyeing a brand rollout probably in September," though he added timing was still to be determined.

Funding and scope: Murphy told the council that the project cost was covered from interest earned on ARPA funds while the grant money was in the bank and that the city expects the brand to be a long-lived asset: "we're planning to use this for about 10 years or more, before we even start looking at a refresh." Council members pressed staff on conversion costs for replacing printed materials, signage and vehicle wraps and on whether the logo and marks would be trademarked. Murphy said trademark questions would likely run through the city clerk's office; one councilmember observed the municipal code (municipal code 1.08 was mentioned during the discussion) could affect whether certain actions require council action.

Discussion vs. decisions: presenters said the procurement and selection were completed administratively and that the immediate work is design refinement and implementation planning. Councilmembers asked for cost estimates and whether the full rollout would be done all at once or phased. Several members noted that visual elements "date" over time and asked how the consultants accounted for continuity; Guide Studio said colors and motifs are being drawn from local materials and landmarks to increase longevity and authenticity.

Deliverables and next steps: Guide Studio listed expected outputs—logo files, icon sets, color palettes, textures/patterns, department sub-logos (with some established program brands to be retained), a brand style guide, templates and training for department staff. The consultants emphasized training department heads so the materials are used consistently and not simply delivered as a book. "We do training with your department heads to make sure they understand the brand style guide," Gerken said.

Questions and concerns raised by councilmembers included whether the final designs and trademark registration would require formal council approval, the total cost of replacing physical assets, and how the brand would balance historic character and a modernized look. Consultants said the positioning and messaging work will be used as an internal "north star" for decisions and that more detailed financial planning for rollout costs will be part of implementation planning.

The presentation closed with staff and consultants planning additional workshops and a return to the steering committee and council for further input before a public rollout. "If you'd like to see an example of that from other communities, I'm happy to show that," Murphy said, noting communities such as Sheridan, Casper and Laramie had undertaken similar processes.