Rollingwood City Hall hosted a packed house Jan. 15 when officials revealed the city’s official new brand. The overall unveiling included new logos, colors and fonts that can be applied to a number of different platforms, including signage, online communications, stationery and clothing.

Attendees get a look at the new Rollingwood branding package Jan. 15.[/caption]

Becky Kittleman, a Rollingwood Community Development Corp. member, attended the presentation and said Rollingwood has needed a branding effort for a long time.

“We felt like Rollingwood needed notoriety because a lot of people aren’t aware that we’re here,” Kittleman said. “So we wanted to give a statement saying, ‘We’re Rollingwood, and this is what we’re about.’”

The final brand package resulted from a comprehensive effort by city officials and the RCDC and was led by public relations firm Buie & Co., which the city officially hired in August.

Mayor Michael Dyson presented the new brand before dozens of people, a group that included both residents and current and former members of local government.

“This is such a special place, and our primary goal with this branding initiative is to encourage all of our residents and businesses to rally around being a part of the Rollingwood community,” Dyson said. “We’re a close-knit community, but we haven’t had a singular identity that really brings us all together.”

A press release from Buie & Co. states that the color scheme for the new brand package, which included light blues and greens, was inspired by blue skies and parks, and that the repeating leaf motif within the new logos is intended to blend sophistication and fun.

Likewise, the fonts within the brand package are meant to invoke the geography within Rollingwood.

"By rounding its edges and ends, a modern san serif font was softened to create a friendly and inviting typeface," the release states. "Descending tails on the 'R' and 'G' were also manipulated to mirror the city’s beloved rolling hills."

Buie & Co. representative Ashley Kegley-Whitehead said in August the process was about figuring out the values of the community, how to identify the authenticity of Rollingwood and how to encapsulate it into a simple stamp that can be replicated and reused. The resulting four-phase plan laid out by Buie & Co. included a discovery, branding, city signage and rollout portion.

On Jan. 15 she said she was pleased with the final result, and the branding will serve Rollingwood for many years to come.

“The sky’s the limit in terms of how this can be applied,” Kegley-Whitehead said. “It’s incredibly flexible and adaptable. Even just from the icons and the badge, there are multiple elements that can plug and play as this evolves over the years. It’s really about creating something that is professional and polished enough for a city and that is familiar enough for a neighborhood.”

Information from a Buie & Co. press release states the comprehensive discovery process toward creation of the final brand package included block-walking, surveys and a branding workshop that sought to understand the values of the community.

The RCDC agreed to pay for $19,500 of the $33,500 project, and the city of Rollingwood agreed to cover the remainder.