Park Ridge’s attempts to rebrand itself met with some consternation from aldermen and members of the public who blasted a proposed logo for the city as generic and questioned the purpose and scope of the project as a whole.
The city has moved to update its branding and marketing as part of its strategic plan. 6th Ward Alderman Rick Biagi recalled that the initial steps in the project came alongside the city’s outdoor dining program during the height of the pandemic as officials sought a productive use of fees for the outdoor dining program.
In December 2022, the city engaged an Evanston-based marketing firm called All Together for a contract worth just under $50,000. All Together representatives recently presented to aldermen on the “story” they had come up with to help market Park Ridge and a set of options for a new city logo.
But Mayor Marty Maloney brought the topic back to City Council members June 5 because he said he’d gotten feedback from some council members that suggested they weren’t supportive of the specific changes the firm had floated — or the effort as a whole.
The city will continue to use its official seal, City Manager Joe Gilmore assured aldermen. Up for replacement are the historic symbols of a gas lamp and cupola. All Together has pitched a new logo featuring leaflike shapes set into the four corners of a set of intersecting “crossroads.”
The reception from council members was mixed, and mostly lukewarm.
After 3rd Ward Alderman Kelly Lawrence and 2nd Ward Alderman Fred Sanchez said they didn’t feel the proposed logo and slogan of “Wholeheartedly Park Ridge” captured the feel of the city, 1st Ward Alderman John Moran piped up to ask what the goal of the entire exercise was.
“I don’t think a crossroads emblem of some type with fancy font on a public works snowplow is a good use of our resources,” Moran said. “I think we’ve asked staff a few times for an answer (about the use of the mark) and we haven’t gotten a straight answer.”
5th Ward Alderman Joseph Steinfels said he wasn’t “in love” with the proposed logo and said the entire process struck him as being “cart before the horse.”
“I don’t see the need to do this,” he said. “The brand that we have for what is currently Park Ridge I think is adequate.”
4th Ward Alderman Harmony Harrington said she supported the project and the pursuit of a cleaner, more modern logo for Park Ridge.
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“When we first started discussing this, it was really around (wanting) to update the strategic vision for our city; we recognize that we’re at a crossroads of sorts. As a previous council we spent some really good time outlining our goals and priorities.”
Branding was part of that effort, she said.
Harrington also said she’d be happy to let staff decide if the new logo/brand went on emergency services or public vehicles as long as the city did update its mark.
“It’s about time we had one — we need to get with the modern ages,” she said.
Administrative Services Manager Leisa Niemotka said she understood the attachment to the city’s historic logos but that those images wouldn’t speak to people who didn’t already live in the city.
Rachael Aziz of All Together also defended the move away from the historic logos, saying her firm had sought input from residents and businesses and hadn’t heard “any real love for the gas lamp or the cupola.”
“Change is hard,” Aziz said. “It’s impossible to capture the character of an entire city in a logo.”
Frequent public commenter Joan Sandrik wasn’t convinced. She likened the logo to a manhole cover or a piece of floor tile, said it was “generic” and there was “absolutely nothing Park Ridge-specific about it.”
She suggested asking students at Maine South and Maine East High Schools to come up with a design and said if she were giving it a letter grade, she’d go with “D for disappointing.”
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Another commenter, Mike Riordan, agreed with Sandrik’s “generic” characterization. “It’s innocuous enough, but you could easily enough see that on the corner of Skokie Boulevard and Old Orchard Road,” he said, referring to the location of the Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie.
After about an hour of discussion, aldermen agreed that they’d continue to pursue a new mark for the city and ask All Together to return to the drawing board for the logo.