Councillor John Sandford says he is disappointed with the proposed new logo and tagline for the district which was presented at the last Stratford District Council meeting.
He says he is "frustrated that we haven't been given any alternatives to consider."
The council has involved the community through the use of surveys in the process to establish what should be reflected in the Stratford District's branding. Key themes widely agreed upon were Mt Taranaki, The Heart of Taranaki and The Forgotten World Highway. This brief was taken to designers Beck & Caul who designed the proposed logo and tag line, "Stratford, Make it yours".
At the meeting, the heart shaped design of the proposed logo received a significant amount of criticism with John commenting, "we aren't the Valentine's centre. I just don't believe that the people of the district would identify with it." Councillor Viv Milner was in agreement adding, "the previous logo said more about Stratford as a community." Councillor John Campbell raised the issue that the proposed photos for the billboards were in fact the wrong side of the mountain. Councillor Sue Pugh agreed with this point, saying "it's not our mountain, this doesn't represent us."
Councillor Rob Thomson was not so opposed, saying, "I don't mind the proposed logo, I would be happy to use it".
Councillors concluded that they want to see more options presented to them. The current Stratford District logo was originally designed by a local secondary school student in 1989, councillor Kelvin Squire suggests that the brief for the branding could be released for the community to have a go a designing a logo that really represents them this time as well.
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