“It’s the first time the city’s done a formal branding process,” she said.
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The city’s seal will not go away, Dexter said, but Fairfield leaders wanted to “develop a graphic representation that promotes our exceptional qualities and enhances the public perception of the city as a first-class community.”
“The seal has been an awesome base for so many years and we want to honor that, but it’s just time for us to have a fresh perspective and modern, coordinated, creative look,” she said.
The city sent out requests for proposals and 21 companies — from as far as California, Florida and Toronto to as close as Hamilton and Cincinnati — and Dexter hopes to have a firm picked by next week. A task force of city employees will meet Wednesday to narrow the companies down to a few.
Dexter said it’s a “short-term project” and once a firm is chosen officials will take a few months to develop a new logo, tag line, and plans to promote and roll out. And while the goal is to have the plan done by October, it will take three to five years to roll it out.
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“There’s a lot of city facilities with different signs and different materials, so it’s going to take some time to coordinate,” she said. The roll out will be over the next three to five years because of the potential costs of developing and rolling out a new brand “over the next several years.”
The city did not set a cost restriction when asking for proposals.
“We just asked companies to tell us our expectations with costs,” Dexter said. The proposals ranged from a $30,000 project to more than $100,000, but she said it’s not likely the city will go with the most expensive proposal.
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