By JONATHAN SNYDER
During meetings this week about the city of Bluffton’s 2025 budget, the Common Council discussed the next steps for its rebranding project.
Throughout those meetings, the council addressed concerns that the public had about the proposed new logos designed by Reusser Marketing of Fort Wayne. Some of the concerns included the bison being a county symbol, the logo not representing Bluffton’s history well and the overall appearance.
“If you have to explain it to me and show me the historical text of it, then the point isn’t made,” Council member Rick Elwell stated, quoting one of the complaints he received. “If I can’t look at it and garner some kind of concept as to what it is, where it came from or where it’s going without a dissertation for it … then we missed the mark.”
Elwell proposed that the expectations of the rebranding were not communicated as well as they should have.
“This wasn’t said to you (Council member Chandler Gerber) so I get it, you went off and did what you were supposed to do,” Elwell said. “It’s not that I disliked this (logo) completely, I’m not saying that. It feels like we probably should redefine our expectations on some of these things moving forward so that we don’t walk away feeling that we didn’t get any options or choices. It’s not against anyone that was involved in the effort, I just wonder that we weren’t detailed enough in the beginning to communicate those expectations.”
While the council agreed that multiple logos would have been a good option to have, Council member Josh Hunt and Gerber warned that many logo options would yield too many opinions to settle on one.
Elwell and the council acknowledged that changing a logo and colors that have represented the city for generations will have pushback regardless, but agreed that the city needed a “refresh.” Council member Scott Mentzer stressed that a solution for this must be found, stating that they owe it to Reusser Marketing, the taxpayer and to the council’s work that they find a way to finish the project.
“We’ve invested a reasonable amount of money into this,” Mentzer said. “We’re at a point where Reusser’s not going back to the drawing board and create new imagery. The scope of their work is not going to increase. We gotta figure out how to take the next step.” The city entered a $20,000 contract with Reusser for the logos.
The council then proposed to pay extra for Reusser to go back to the drawing board. No official offer was made and no money amount was specified. The council then stressed that the public needs to know the context behind the logos and why they were chosen.
“To scrap this whole project at this stage of the game — that would be embarrassing,” Gerber said.
An informational brief on the symbolism behind the bison logo will be available at a Bluffton Free Street Fair booth. Additionally, Elwell stated that an explanation for the logos should be available on the web page and all Bluffton social media pages.
An official decision on the logos will be made in October.
jonathan@news-banner.com
