General Updates and News

[coolmillion]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

A walk up cafe would be really interesting in that area. Looks awesome.

I heard that although the zoning permits a non-conforming (non-residential) use, there is a restriction on f and b. I'm not sure why that is, but apparently the neighbours are expecting some kind of retail based on conversations with Adam, the owner.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by scooby074

I dont like it. As mentioned it looks unfinished, not moderne.

The "A"s look like pairs of pants!

And how many hundreds of thousands will end up being spent on relabeling everything from fire engines to the Mayors stationary? Apparently $217000 was paid to consultants to come up with that piece of crap.

It's fine. Far better than the former one which looked dated the day it was adopted. Branding is more than just a logo. It's a way of doing things, an attitude. The former logo was poisoned by its association with Peter Kelly. Hence the other "attitudinal" work that was done in connection with the rebranding project. This will help greatly with a badly-needed attitude adjustment.

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

It's fine. Far better than the former one which looked dated the day it was adopted. Branding is more than just a logo. It's a way of doing things, an attitude. The former logo was poisoned by its association with Peter Kelly. Hence the other "attitudinal" work that was done in connection with the rebranding project. This will help greatly with a badly-needed attitude adjustment.

Anything but the previous logo works for me. But this logo is not bad. Not the greatest, but not horrible.

[kph06]

Tonight I was driving by the fleet club where the new building is set to go and the Barrington Street property limits had erosion control silt fencing in place. It was too dark to tell but maybe this is about to get going.

[scooby074]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

It's fine. Far better than the former one which looked dated the day it was adopted. Branding is more than just a logo. It's a way of doing things, an attitude. The former logo was poisoned by its association with Peter Kelly. Hence the other "attitudinal" work that was done in connection with the rebranding project. This will help greatly with a badly-needed attitude adjustment.

Ill agree the old logo was a bit cheesy. But this is not much of an improvement. It doesnt scream "Halifax" to me. Its just too plain and basic. Any 8 year old playing with Word or Paint could come up with something just like this.

All this talk of "ways of doing things" and "attitudes" sounds like corporate HR speak. Who are you and what have you done with plain talking no BS Keith?

[alps]

I would almost prefer something even more "plain and basic". Those types of logos, with some kind of distinctive but simple differentiating factor, seem to have the most staying power. Think of those entities whose logos have remained the same for decades but don't seem dated...like Sony, Government of Canada, HSBC, IBM, Mitsubishi, etc.

I like the strange logo of the Urban Council (Hong Kong). Simple but unforgettable, and with the stylised bauhinia flower, distinctly local too:



I don't mind the new Halifax logo, especially in comparison to all the "my 5 year old could do better!" attempts I'm seeing elsewhere online, with added bridges, swooshes, waves, etc.

[scooby074]

Originally Posted by alps

I would almost prefer something even more "plain and basic". Those types of logos, with some kind of distinctive but simple differentiating factor, seem to have the most staying power. Think of those entities whose logos have remained the same for decades but don't seem dated...like Sony, Government of Canada, HSBC, IBM, Mitsubishi, etc.

I like the strange logo of the Urban Council (Hong Kong). Simple but unforgettable, and with the stylised bauhinia flower, distinctly local too:



I don't mind the new Halifax logo, especially in comparison to all the "my 5 year old could do better!" attempts I'm seeing elsewhere online, with added bridges, swooshes, waves, etc.

Got a link to those attempts? A bridge, wave or swoosh is what Im thinking the logo needs.

"plain and basic" was a bad choice of words. A good logo can be plain and basic, yet iconic, as your logo from HK shows.

Maybe something simple, does it get any more Halifax than the Town Clock?

Just the outline of the Town Clock itself would be iconic and 100% Halifax.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by scooby074

Maybe something simple, does it get any more Halifax than the Town Clock?

Just the outline of the Town Clock itself would be iconic and 100% Halifax.

The last thing the area needs is a logo featuring one icon from the center of downtown. You would then have Gloria complaining it needed a picture of a Lake Banook canoe, Hendsbee wanting a spruce tree from the Eastern Shore, etc. This is representative of a large community and iconography does not work in such cases.

I imagine there were voices around the table at Sony way back when who said in Japanese "It's too plain! Who will remember that?" The more I see this one, the more I like it. The screams of anguish over this entire exercise are just perfectly illustrative of the huge problem we face with community attitudes - the hard-done-by types who think every dime of tax money must be spent on their pet issue or refunded back to them. We need leadership to get us out of that. I don't know if Savage is that guy, but at least he was right to insist on doing this. HRM spends money on all sorts of useless things like bike lanes and urban farms, but this is not one of those.

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

The last thing the area needs is a logo featuring one icon from the center of downtown. You would then have Gloria complaining it needed a picture of a Lake Banook canoe, Hendsbee wanting a spruce tree from the Eastern Shore, etc. This is representative of a large community and iconography does not work in such cases..

LOL. Sooo true.

[worldlyhaligonian]

No kitchy stuff. e.g. bridge, fish of any sort, town clock, etc.

We are trying to be a world city here. Let's do it properly. This is fine.

There should be a cut out of the lettering moved around town like the 1812 one was, and how Amsterdam and Lyon both do. This is how to promote a city.

[scooby074]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

The last thing the area needs is a logo featuring one icon from the center of downtown. You would then have Gloria complaining it needed a picture of a Lake Banook canoe, Hendsbee wanting a spruce tree from the Eastern Shore, etc. This is representative of a large community and iconography does not work in such cases.

I imagine there were voices around the table at Sony way back when who said in Japanese "It's too plain! Who will remember that?" The more I see this one, the more I like it. The screams of anguish over this entire exercise are just perfectly illustrative of the huge problem we face with community attitudes - the hard-done-by types who think every dime of tax money must be spent on their pet issue or refunded back to them. We need leadership to get us out of that. I don't know if Savage is that guy, but at least he was right to insist on doing this. HRM spends money on all sorts of useless things like bike lanes and urban farms, but this is not one of those.

Of course they'd all have their own self interests there, ie: Gloria's canoe..

Ill give you that it is a large surface area with lots of little fiefdoms out there wanting to be recognized, but Halifax has taken steps to unify that by dropping the HRM and just going to Halifax (a great first step).

The people who are going to complain that they are being slighted because of the name change would be the same ones who would be upset by the Clock Tower icon... Might as well go all the way and adopt the Clock because those people will never be happy anyways.

If you step back and look unbiasedly the Clock Tower and Citadel is Halifax.

Yes some will say it should show the Peggys Cove lighthouse, A canoe, maybe the PoW Martello Tower but at least to me, the Clock Tower's profile is iconic for Halifax proper and by extension HRM.

Although it is in the centre of downtown, it's so iconic that it would be able to exist without a text label eliminating the awkwardness of Halifax vs. Halifax Regional Municipality name argument that is sure to come up if it hasnt already.

Leadership... I agree. We desperately need it in Halifax and this province in general, however I still see this re-branding as a waste at this time (this is already well over $1/4M and its only the "design", the relabeling itself will be this much or more). It's every bit as much of a waste as bike paths and urban farms. Feel good "fluff".

I dont buy into the argument that logos and slogans can foster change within an organization. I hear "Im lovin it" a billion times a day, but that doesnt change my opinion that McDonalds is stomach-ache-inducing crap. Slogans are usually feelgood buzzwords nothing more.

Do something about the rampant abuse of sick days by employees, 10.5/yr avg when many Nova Scotians only are allowed 3, that'll be a more beneficial change towards attitudes and external appearances as compared to a new logo which really changes nothing in and of itself.

[Colin May]

Can any poster remember the logos for Paris, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Tokyo, London, Glasgow, Oslo, Rio, Sydney, Singapore, Beijing, Delhi, Moscow, Madrid, Prague ?
No cheating - searching the net is not allowed
Stand on Spring Garden Road and ask the public to identify a series of city logos, with the words removed and all you will get is blank stares.
Then ask them what they think of when you say Paris, Sydney, Hamburg, Brussels, etc.

Halifax - the largest city in the world ( by area )
Halifax - the city with the longest coastline in the world
Halifax - the city with the most islands in the world

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by Colin May

Can any poster remember the logos for Paris, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Tokyo, London, Glasgow, Oslo, Rio, Sydney, Singapore, Beijing, Delhi, Moscow, Madrid, Prague ?
No cheating - searching the net is not allowed
Stand on Spring Garden Road and ask the public to identify a series of city logos, with the words removed and all you will get is blank stares.
Then ask them what they think of when you say Paris, Sydney, Hamburg, Brussels, etc.

Halifax - the largest city in the world ( by area )
Halifax - the city with the longest coastline in the world
Halifax - the city with the most islands in the world

Not sure the first is something to be proud of; its a reminder of how ridiculous our cities boundaries are.

The outer rural boundaries should be cut out, into their own self-taxing municipal areas. They don't want to be part of the city, and really, we shouldn't want them to be part of the city (they don't have the population to contribute any actual taxes and actually drain our funds to do more efficient / smart / cost effective things). For example:

http://metronews.ca/news/halifax/100...-first-hurdle/

Ridiculous to try to fund mass transit out in the middle of nowhere, where there is no one to pay for it or use it. This even blatantly contradicts the recent consultations from people that we are to cut down on Transit sprawl and focus on shorter, faster, routing.

Benefits other than wasting tax dollars:

First, some of the most useless and annoying councillors will be gone from Council. For example, Steve Adams or Barry Dalrymple! Daldrymple can go be the mayor of Sheet Harbour for all I care, just get him out of Halifax Council.

Second, having to listen to fewer people writing complaining emails into CBC Mainstreet about being "rural" and hating now being forced to be "Haligonian".


Best argument against: sprawl developers will just keep buying up land and building shitty sprawl biz parks out in the middle of nowhere.

[fenwick16]

I think the new logo looks ok but how does it symbolize Halifax? Or does it have to?

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

I think the new logo looks ok but how does it symbolize Halifax? Or does it have to?

I think it's fine.

The question, is how we use it. How do we promote Halifax?

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by counterfactual

I think it's fine.

The question, is how we use it. How do we promote Halifax?

I would prefer for the A's to be A's, but that is just my personal preference. There is information on the rationale for the logo design at http://halifaxdefined.ca/#why

I hope the promise to “Be Bold” will actually happen. Halifax has been held back by overly conservative thinking for too many decades, in my opinion.

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

Halifax has been held back by overly conservative thinking for too many decades, in my opinion.

Absolutely.

[scooby074]

What did we get for $300K here? For a company that is supposed to be creative, they weren't.

Halifax spelled out in Samsung's font! Maybe HRM should get into the Cellphone game.. Oh thats right they stole "Be Bold" from BB at the same time. I guess they really should get into the cell game lol.

[ILoveHalifax]

I like ours WAY better it has 2 shades of blue

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by scooby074

What did we get for $300K here? For a company that is supposed to be creative, they weren't.

Halifax spelled out in Samsung's font! Maybe HRM should get into the Cellphone game.. Oh thats right they stole "Be Bold" from BB at the same time. I guess they really should get into the cell game lol.

It's not the same font and it's not the same color. Maybe you should get your eyes checked.

Phil Otto was in the media last week and said the logo design part of the exercise cost about $10K. The rest of it was the months of meetings and consultations with stakeholders that gave them the insights they needed to come up with the concepts behind the logo.

The letters to the editor in the Herald today are more of this same kind of bellyaching. I expected a bit more from the posters here who are generally more intelligent than online commentators in the Herald. But maybe I'm wrong on that.