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By Joe Fries
In a bid to clear the air of suggestions that the new city logo may have been plagiarized, the city wants to release images of the designs that didn’t make the grade.
It was was revealed Tuesday that the new logo, conceived by local designer Phred Martin, bears an uncanny resemblance to another logo posted to a U.S. industry website a few years ago.
While it would be virtually impossible to prove that Martin borrowed his design from elsewhere, a look at the other logos he submitted, but that were passed over, might exonerate him.
City manager Ron Mattiussi told Kelowna.com that a logo committee saw 12 designs, but that the field was narrowed to just three for council’s approval. He said the city now wants to release the rejected logos, but must first make sure it has the right to do so.
“There are other logos, they were there as part of the process. We just want to make sure that we can release them,” Mattiussi confirmed. “There are instances where people do work that it’s still their property, so we just want to make sure we don’t run afoul.”
“I don’t think that releasing them is sort of an issue for us, but what we don’t want to do is overstep our ability until we’re sure that we can. That’s all,” he continued.
An online search of city council agendas and minutes produced just one reference to Martin, that being at a meeting on Feb. 25, 2008, when he apparently helped deliver a verbal report on the process and timelines associated with developing a new logo.
The minutes show that council questioned why the logo contract, valued at $10,000, was not put to tender. Mattiussi told council that it was “strategically important to go single source” on the project.
Asked today about that explanation, he said that Martin’s employer, Splash Design, had just gone through a similar rebranding process with Kelowna Museums so city staff “felt that there was a tie-in.”
While the city does have a purchasing policy that states staff should get quotes for goods and services over $5,000, it does allow for exceptions when it comes to consulting services, a category into which the logo design would seem to fit.
Carla Stephens, the city’s media relations manager, said Martin is still out of town, but that she spoke to him today by telephone.
The “essence” of the conversation, Stephens said, “was that he had never seen the (other) logo.”
“He wouldn’t risk his credibility nor damage the city’s reputation… for whatever it is he received” she added.
Stephens said she has encouraged Martin to speak with the media when he returns to the city.
joe@kelowna.com/(250)575-4303
15 Responses to “City to release other versions of new logo”
Tags: City Hall, logo, phred martin, plagarized
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So just flipping around the logo makes it worth 80 thousand. Well next time you need a new logo call me I have thousands to choose from, I’ll only charge 40 thousand.
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Carla Stephens, (the city’s media relations manager) said she has encouraged Martin to speak with the media when he returns to the city.
Why would he do that Carla? Because you want him to walk the plank without a personal flotation device?
No. You guys misspent the money, especially in light that you are a rather large corporation that should have automatically trademarked their “new brand identity”. How could the City squander money like this and not secure the right to use the logo?
You guys have been caught red handed pissing away money on something that wasn’t even remotely needed.
Why don’t you encourage Ron to speak to the media, along with Sharon and man up and apologize to us?
Maybe they are “out of town” too.
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come on kelowna,seriously you have so many great artisits here,choose a less expensive route and make it really a kelowna logo.
$80,000.00 is too much for an economic crisis especially after spending so much on a new bridge that has issues,pontoons issues,and a not needed art for the bridge.i love kelowna i always say it is like having your cake and eating it too when you live here! be realistic who do we need to be in competition with there is a koi pond that could use proper monies in order to make it healthy,there are so many other issues that need to be dealt with and that does not include spending so much on a logo that in no way shows kelowna.
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that is a joke, if public officials say there are distinct differences (the mayor) she is only fooling her self. anyone can see things are inverted and other than a bit of a color change things are the same. you have to be a fool to think these are unique and individual designs.
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I think the Logo is ugly, but not necessarily copied.
There are so many designs on the internet that you can find something close to anything you dream up.
1. There are lots of tutorials on the web on how to make spirograph designs very similar to this.
2. This thing looks a lot like a modified color wheel.
3. The colors used are very standard complementary colors (I think its called the tetrad colour scheme) where certain colors look good next to each other, and this design has all the colors from the opposite sides of the color wheel adjacent to each other and follows some basic rules about color that all good graphic designers are going to know about.
4. Sky colors on top and earth and water colors on the bottom. Not exactly brilliant.
Look at the following link for a color wheel if you want to see what I mean
http://www.javascriptworkshop.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/Color_colorschemes2.pdf
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1st one is expanding.
2nd one is contracting.
it’s a big difference
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I made with Spyrograph!
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hmm…in reviewing the work of Splash Design – the firm responsible for this fiasco,
I can tell you that their overall work is ‘desktop publishing’ at best. their body of work is full of tricks, bells, whistles one usually finds in ‘desktop publishing’ how-to manuals. to use a ‘generic’ stock image of a water splash, complete with gradients et al (to convey the firm’s business) reveals a lot about the firm’s inexperience…and that comes from the creative director or their senior designer.
in an age where agencies spews off ‘brand jargon’ such as brand loyalty, brand equity, brand message, etc, I can only make a sound conclusion that this is the case where an articulate pitchman won. I have nothing against the proposed logo itself–but personally, it resembles the bp (British Petroleum) symbol. better yet, look at patterns from the culture of the Middle East where motifs such as these can be found. and where is the genuine concept connected to Kelowna? I would be more interested in the design research and rationale than seeing the other shortlisted submission. a seasoned designer with ‘real world’ experience can tell right away…and yes, I’m one of them.
I can only hope that Kelowna Museum not suffer the same fate.
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All he did was reverse the red and blue outward spikes to be pointed inward. That takes, say, 30 seconds? No one deserves $10K for this. I would expect someone to put in a reasonable amount of effort and time to create a NEW design that would be symbolic of the community and resources. His design is a joke and he’s just lazy.
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I think the logo is boring, looks like something my kids could have make with spiral making kit, remeber those as kids. I think they should have gone to the public for ideas, they would have come up with some pretty unique ones. This logo does not say Kelowna at all. They need something more original and unique. There is no effort put in this logo, anyone can make that on a computer. Come on Kelowna you can do better.
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Hi there editors. I sent you a comment regarding the new logo and another, revised comment, a day latter. Could someone explain to me why neither one of them was published.
Thank you
Jiri
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Hi Jiri and others,
Thanks for your time and interest but I couldn’t approve your comments. As I said earlier on this thread—and why I sought private communication with you, Jiri—we are legally and morally obligated to edit any statements making criminal accusations such as fraud or unfounded claims of plagiarism. Suffice to say, there have been many comments we had to delete.
Please share your position and by all means state what you think happened. If you refrain from making judgments that only a court may make, I am sure they will be approved. One day, perhaps we can debate the libel laws in this country and I am sure we will agree with each other.
As a quick update on this story, kelowna.com has asked the City of Kelowna to make available many of the documents that led to the approval of the logo in question. If all is as the designer Phred Martin said, there will be iterations of the design—submitted and date-stamped—to show the process of creation. We also wanted to see other design considerations. While we are still in discussion, the City has thus far taken the position that all other designs belong to the designer and he is free to use them for other clients. We are currently considering the merits of a Freedom of Information request so we can determine, perhaps with the help of the Freedom of Information and Privacy Commissioner, whether the rights of a private enterprise engaged in a process with a public body trumps the right of taxpayers to find out what happened behind those closed doors. There are many aspects to this story yet to be uncovered.
In the meantime, Phred Martin said he had earlier iterations of his work, including pencil drawings. We have asked him several times now to share with us the earlier iterations of his drawing. They may be proof of what he told us.
Mr. Martin hasn’t returned any of our phone calls since his interviews.
Stay tuned.
Marshall Jones, editor
Kelowna.com
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Thank you Marshall for not abandoning this cause and for asking questions.I’ll keep my fingers crossed for the sucess of your quest.Good luck.
I am still convinced though that all parties involved and especially the public may benefit from a thorough and unbiased investigation.Investigations work or are supposed to work both ways. Who knows, we may be told at the end that Mr. Martin’s work is a bona fide original and then feel ashamed that we ever suspected otherwise.
Jiri
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Well, it was ‘copied’ alright! But what concerns me the mmost is the amount paid for this… Who approves $80K for a logo??? I really would like to know all that so I can place my vote in the right hands next time. The same goes for a metal sculpture just before the bridge $250K… What are these people throwing money away like this??? I wish the people elected had more respet for tax money. If it was from their pockets, would they pay this much??
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Wow! What a rip off! I see that Splash Design has done mainly work for the City of Kelowna… Don’t tell they are the only ones available in Kelowna for graphic design… The city sure has tons of money to spend with only one company for graphics. Should all these projects have been advertised so other companies could bid on the design project? It really sounds strange to me and on top of that teh new logo… It is not ugly, but doesn’t have anything to do with Kelowna and it is a copy. It is way too much to expect it to be a coincidence, don’t you think?
Please continue discussion on the forum: link