Burnley is a large market town in the borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73,500. It has a 24 lane bowling alley, a 9-screen multiplex cinema and can now boast a new logo as part of a £110,000 re-branding scheme to improve the town’s image. That’s the good news. The bad news (and that’s just my opinion) is the city has chosenthat logo.
Developed by Burnley Vision Board after it secured £300,000 of funding from the North West Development Agency (NWDA), the ‘visual expression’ consists of a computer-generated, three-dimensional image of lots of multi-coloured, tangled circles. That much everyone can agree on. It’s how to interpret the marque where opinions begin to differ.
I’ve seen it described as ‘gutsy’ offering a ‘pretty original interpretation on growth and movement’. Also, as having an ‘amorphous nature’ which lends itself to new media, boldly breaking away from the accepted conventions of static identities. Make your own minds up on that by visiting the website.
Counilor Gordon Birtwistle, leader of Burnley Council, said “Burnley might have been a mess eight or nine years ago, but this shows we’re on the up. It’s bright and unusual and really exciting. I think it’s a brave choice, but I haven’t heard anyone with a bad word to say about it.
Others have been less complimentary, Conservative Councilor Jonathan Gilbert said “The logo is not the best I have seen. Animated it looks like some kind of deformed insect. Is it dynamic? I don’t think so.”
With some suggesting “Burnley looks like a mess”, “it looks like an exploded slinky” or ” the result of a middle manager being let loose on a 3D rendering program.”
Most intriguing/worryingly was Counilor Gordon Birtwistle boast they “had beaten stiff competition from others who had been interested in using the logo.” How is that possible? Was the same logo touted around by some door-to-door identity salesman? If that was the case then surely Burnley’s new identity can have absolutely no relevance to the location?
The Lancashire Telegraph’s poll shows 84% of people who voted ‘hate’ the new logo. What do you guys think?
For more information on this rebrand, and others visit the brandtastic Brand New. Which is where we found most of the colourful quotes.
