MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The City of Morgantown will have a new logo and slogan as part of a new rebranding campaign.
The city’s communications department revealed a new logo that will include a combination of past and present images with the slogan “The Journey Starts Here,” which will be a part of a new marketing effort for Morgantown. The new logo consists of an upper-case m design in the shape of two mountain tops with a green and blue color interplay with the sun in the background. While still fresh off the presses, city officials have reported positive feedback on the new imaging so far.
“There has been a lot of great, positive feedback; we obviously got a lot of good feedback before we even got to this point,” said Morgantown Communications Director Andrew Bailey. “Working with the city council and working with all of those different parties,” he said.
Bailey stated that the City of Morgantown’s new logo consisted of ones that had been used over the past several years. With consultation from city officials and the public, the city communications department chose to combine the longtime three blue columns ordered in an “M-shaped design with green colors implemented to reshape the “M” into the form of mountains that encompass the community. Bailey stated this was done to blend the longtime logo into something new that can be used for decades.
“A variety of different types of logos, whether it’d be like the original logo, an updated version of like five years ago, or the real logo, no one really knew what the logo was and what the actual logo meant,” said Bailey on the thoughts behind the design change.
Displays of the new logo for the City of Morgantown are already seen on city webpages, but Bailey said to expect a slow rollout on city signage and city apparel. To avoid the significant costs that normally accompany a municipality’s rebranding, Bailey stated that the new logo will first be seen on city vehicles with low-cost detail replacements, followed by a remodel of welcome signs that are located on the borders of Morgantown city limits, with apparel replaced on an “in need” basis. The new logo rollouts are expected to be seen throughout the summer and the rest of 2023.
“There are three main statues. It’s kind of like at the entrance points of the city, and they have like a big statue M of the old logo,” said Bailey on what’s expected to be revamped. “Right now, they sit on this really nice, kind of brick wall, and they have the lighting installed on the ground that shines up on it,” he said.
The goal of the City of Morgantown’s rebranding effort is to create a logo and slogan that can help present the city in a welcoming light. To achieve that goal, Bailey stated that the city’s communication department worked for over six months to gather as much input and feedback as possible before a new city logo and slogan were released. Efforts that they feel will be reflected in an image that the City of Morgantown can be proud of for years to come
“The whole goal of this is to have consistency within our messaging,” said Bailey. “Give something that can kind of bring that vision, that mission, for everyone, kind of just bring people together,” he said.