Hyattsville Marketing Task Force Recommends Street Banner Design for Rte. 1

Nov. 29, 2006 -- The Hyattsville Marketing Task Force worked with designer John Snogren to produce a recommended street banner design for installation on light poles on Rte. 1. The banners are being produced by the Anacostia Trails Heritage Area, a tourist-economy development organization created by the State of Maryland. The banner design is based on the recently adopted municipal logo and slogan and represents the first implementation of the City's new Identity Package. Hyattsville resident John Snogren was hired by the City to design elements of the branding scheme, including the logo and a street banner design. Still to come are two gateway sign designs and a Web template for the forthcoming revamp of the City's official Web site.

The recommended design, which will be forwarded to ATHA for implementation, is reproduced below:

New Hyattsville Logo Design and Slogan Approved!

The Hyattsville City Council adopted the logo and slogan on October 16, 2006.

Background Information

From The Hyattsville Reporter:

[Sept. 19, 2006] An enhanced version of the proposed new Hyattsville logo was endorsed on Sept. 14 by the Hyattsville Marketing Task Force. The Task Force also recommended a proposed new City slogan that will appear on the logo. The
logo and slogan will be available for another round of public comment prior to the Mayor and City Council considering them in October for final approval.

The Hyattsville Identity Project

The City Council last year authorized the Marketing Task Force to work with City staff to create a set of "branding" materials that would establish a positive identity for the City in communications with audiences both inside and outside Hyattsville's boundaries, including prospective new residents and businesses. The goal was to use an improved public image to help expand Hyattsville's tax base, enhance community identity and pride, and attract more desired amenities into the City. The Task Force -- consisting of volunteers with professional expertise in marketing, public relations and communications, along with City staff and a Council liaison -- conducted research to determine what Hyattsville's key assets and attributes were, and how those were perceived by key audiences. That research included a Market Survey of 800 Washington-area residents, an Identity Survey of more than 200 Hyattsville residents, and a public charette attended by dozens of City residents.

The research revealed that Hyattsville's strongest assets are diversity, proximity, historicity, and community. However, audiences outside of the City had a much lower awareness of those assets than residents did. The Task Force decided to assign these assets as Hyattsville's key branding elements -- along with a sense of the Arts District and Hyattsville's
distinct polarities, such as old/new and urban/small-town.

Logo Development

Hyattsville resident and designer John Snogren was hired this past Spring to create a logo and other branding materials that would embody the City's identified branding elements. The first iteration included three different designs, which were evaluated by the Task Force and refined in a second iteration. The Task Force decided to endorse what was dubbed the "Arts" logo but present all three at a City Council presentation this summer.
Afterwards, public comment on the designs was elicited in the Hyattsville Reporter, the Hyattsville Web Site, the hyattsville.wetpaint.com wiki board, and the Hyattsville Life & Times. The Task Force collated the feedback and requested specific changes for two of the three logo designs. The third
design iteration reflected these improvements, and in its Sept. 14 meeting, the Task Force unanimously voted to recommend the enhanced "arts" logo for adoption by the City Council.

Slogan Development

The Task Force also evaluated dozens of slogan ideas to replace the old City slogan, "A good place to live," which tested poorly on the Identity Survey. Ideas came from the Task Force itself, suggestions from respondents to the Identity Survey, and the public feedback process on the logo. After three evaluations of slogan nominations, the Task Force unanimously voted to
recommend that "A World Within Walking Distance" become the new City slogan.

Description of Logo and Slogan

The new logo incorporates historical, modern, green-space and friendly, hometown-feel elements of the City. Although there is some overlap, history is represented by the post office and the castle. New development is incorporated in the new University Town Center high-rise apartment building. The tree, park area and river depict green space, and the house connotes the
City's friendly, hometown coziness. Because of the multiple perspectives employed in the design, the river and train tracks can be seen as the B&O Railroad and the Northeast Branch if related to the historic buildings in the foreground, or the Metro tracks and the Northwest Branch if viewed in relation to the UTC building in the background. The design shows dynamic
progression from old and historic to new and modern, from suburban to urban, and from East Hyattsville to West Hyattsville.

The new slogan -- "A World Within Walking Distance" -- seeks to convey the many public and private resources within walking distance of City residents. This means shops, jobs, schools and attractions you can walk to, as well as the public transportation you can walk to that will take you to the greater
Washington area. The "World" portion also reflects the City's diversity because Hyattsville counts as residents people from all over the world, as well as Hyattsville's sense of community. The Task Force felt that the slogan has a poetic feel that complements the evocative, artistic expression of the logo design.


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External Links

• See the logo designs compared with logos from other Cities (.pdf/1231kb)
• See the results of the 2004 Hyattsville Market Survey (.xls/69kb)
• See the results of the 2006 Hyattsville Identity Survey (.xls/32kb)
• See the Task Force presentation on the proposed Logo Standard (.ppt/54kb)
• See designer John Snogren's presentation on the proposed new logos (.ppt/1196kb)
• See the Gazette's July 20, 2006 article on the proposed logos (.html)

(Please note that these logos will not replace the City of Hyattsville's official seal.)