The Seattle Public  library paid the Hornall Anderson design firm $365,000 for a redo of the logo.  Of course once that is done, the library would spend another couple of million, rebranding the buildings, business cards, vehicles. stationary and gawd know what else.  Fortunately, after a puboic outcry, the Board voted that waste down.

So, to save money, I have taken the liberty of creating a logo. (left and below).  Now this is just an idea based on some stuff I bingoed off of the web, but it is free and I would guess that for a couple of dollars could be remixed as a great new logo.

Note my idea is not just a graphic.  I suggest replacing the word “library” with the letter “L.”  ThisSeattle Public Library can be used cutely in ads as in .. “The Seat-L”   The L could also become a prefix as in “We lend L-books,”  “L day,” and L earn your way to a better job! Heck, maybe there is a market for L-pads?
All this would seem to fit the ambitions of  Marcellus Turner, Seattle’s city Librarian.  The guy says says circulation numbers and visits to the library are declining  because (duh) folks  are using digital sources more than print sources.  So, after Rem Koolhaas built for us what may be the most efficient book dispensary in the world (and one of Seattle’s rare notable building) the Librarian has a dilemma … how can he justify the building and all those librarians if the worlds’ info can fit on an L-pad?  Marcellus claims a new  logo can support “the reading and informational needs of our city in a rapidly changing world.”

I am not sure what he means.  If people are getting their information from media other than books, do we actually need a library? 

 

The Library Board of Trustees met on October 28.  For a better discussion with less snark. read The Stranger.