How to put your mark on Super City

Can Auckland's Super City find a brand as strong as "I love NY"?

The task of creating the new council's logo will be left to the public in a competition unveiled today.

The Auckland Transition Agency is looking to all Aucklanders to create a distinctive design, despite the failure of the Queens Wharf public competition to find an inspirational idea for the waterfront.

Executive chairman Mark Ford said the logo should be designed and owned by Aucklanders, and everyone - including professional designers - was invited to take part.

Art consultant Hamish Keith, who will sit on the judging panel, was confident the competition's clear design brief would ensure more success than the wharf competition, which found no winning idea from 237 entries. He had some reservations about a public competition given that Auckland had a healthy graphic design community, but said the process would "begin a conversation with the city".

"It may not be the best way to getting a logo, but there really is no good way. We are hoping that someone will provide a brilliant moment."

Mr Keith said he would be looking for a design that was "compelling, elegant and compact" and did not require explanation.

He expected thousands of entries featuring volcanoes and sky towers, but said the winning logo needed to be one that "distilled the image of the whole place, and not just some blindingly obvious parts of it".

Asked to cite examples of distinctive brands, Mr Keith suggested "I Love NY" and the London Underground roundel. Both were striking in their simplicity, and had endured for decades, or, in the case of the Underground logo, more than a century.

If the winning entry was not perfectly suited to the council, the transition agency was not obliged to adopt it.

The agency also had the option of negotiating with the designer of a promising idea, or tweaking a good design to fit the council's brief.

The judging panel will be chaired by Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey, who has 30 years' experience in advertising.

"We want something that is the most memorable design since Nike's tick," said Mr Harvey. "In 50 years you should be able to look at it and say, 'Oh yeah, that stands for Auckland."'

He said it was important to get an enduring image, because it would end up on electoral pamphlets, rubbish bins, signs and "hundreds of other things". He expected the logo selection would cost "next-to-nothing".

Joining Mr Harvey and Mr Keith on the judging panel are artist Dick Frizzell, designer Karen Walker, broadcaster Bill Ralston, Pacific artist and curator Ema Tavola, and Wayne Pihema, who sits on the Aotea Centre board of management.

Auckland has a poor track record in finding cutting-edge logos.

In 2001, advertising executive Mike Hutcheson proposed a new slogan/logo for Auckland, "Auckland A", as part of the Auckland Festival. The idea was rapidly panned.

Auckland City chief executive David Rankin imposed a more "metaphorical" wavy blue logo on the new council immediately after the 2007 local body elections. A council source said the rebranding cost $1 million, but the council put the cost at $329,000.

Last September the business arm of the Auckland Regional Council came up with a lava-coloured letter A frayed at the edges as a broader promotional image than City of Sails. It cost $174,000.

HOW TO ENTER

Entries can be submitted:

Online at: aucklandcouncillogo.co.nz

By hard copy in the post to:

Civic Building,
1 Greys Ave,
Auckland.

Competition entry forms and conditions are available at aucklandcouncillogo.co.nz as well as council libraries and customer centres.

Or call 09 307 7274 or 0800 80 60 40.

Competition closes March 19.