March 29, 2024

Brand yourself

Public invited to help create new logo, brand for Osceola

Could there be a public image that reflects Osceola’s history, heritage and future? It’s currently in the works.

One of the things city and development officials are doing is finding a community identity — with a brand or logo.

“What’s it going to take to do, to arrive, at a brand in a community that’s diverse as ours, that everybody can take pride in,” said Bill Trickey, executive director of Clarke Community Development Corporation (CCDC).

Identity committee

Trickey asked Ty Wheeler, Osceola city administrator/clerk, to serve on an “identity” committee with him. Osceola City Councilman Dan Hooper has also been helping with the committee.

Trickey has enlisted the help of Andrew Clark, who did the logo for CCDC, as a consultant.

Where’s this process headed? Committee members want to get community involvement to get a broad base of input.

Public meeting

A meeting is scheduled 4 p.m. Friday at Clarke Community High School’s auditorium. The public is invited to attend.

“The main thing is we want people to know that we want their input,” Trickey said. “We’re looking to wind up with a product that everybody’s proud of and that everybody knows they at least had the opportunity to participate.”

Wheeler said he saw the importance of a community logo when city staff was working on designing a new city of Osceola website.

Too many images

“Traditionally, some image of Warrior Osceola has been used,” he said. “But, there hasn’t ever been a standardized version of Osceola adopted. You’ve got various versions of Osceola.”

Wheeler added, the iris is the official city flower, and it’s depicted at Maple Hill Cemetery. In other versions of town logos, a feather is painted on a city water tower.

“From an organizational standpoint, just from the city management perspective, I thought our trucks, our uniforms, our hats, our business cards, our letterheads, they all need to match,” Wheeler said.

The identity committee members said they have received a lot of interest from the public, and want to make sure the public is aware they will have the opportunity to share their input.

Open to suggestions

As for the brand itself, it doesn’t necessarily have to be an image of Chief Osceola. Committee members said they are open to any ideas or suggestions.

“We want the public to know that it’s not our idea or Bill’s idea, it’s a community effort,” Hooper said. “We have already gotten several prominent community people and organizations working on this with us.”

Wheeler added, “We hope that there’s some ownership with everybody.”