Salisbury unveils new 'comfortable' branding
Salisbury, once known as Sby, the ‘Bury and even Smallsbury, is now the Comfortable Side of Coastal in a new community branding initiative that features an array of new logos, fonts and coordinated colors on everything from street banners to T-shirts and tote bags.
“It feels like Christmas morning and it feels like we all have a lot of new gifts to play with,” Mayor Jake Day said following a presentation Monday night by Ben Muldrow of Arnett Muldrow & Associates.
The new logos were rolled out Tuesday on the city’s website and Facebook page.
Last month, citizens were asked to participate in a series of roundtable meetings to offer input in the design process. Day said the intensive branding and design efforts resulted in two unique brands: downtown and the community at large.
While the community image will be “comfortable,” Muldrow said downtown’s will be “cool,” with a focus on expanding outward from the Downtown Plaza to include the rest of Main Street and the marina.
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Downtown has its own logo which is a stylized version of a street map of the area.
Brand statements for the city identified it as a college town, a river town, a cultural town and the largest city on the Eastern Shore: “We are Salisbury, Maryland, and our town was born from the headwaters of the Wicomico River. This special place, nestled squarely between the beaches and the bay, has been attracting people to its stunning location for almost 300 years.”
Salisbury may be halfway between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, but there is coastal imagery everywhere, including boats in the city seal and the seagull mascot at Salisbury University, Muldrow said.
Looking ahead to an exciting year for Salisbury
“You are a coastal community, but you don’t realize it,” he said.
The city’s new destination brand has three components: Maryland’s Coastal College Town, Capital of the Eastern Shore and The Heart and Soul of Delmarva. All three are expected to appear on street banners throughout the city.
Muldrow also unveiled an updated city seal and a design for a new city flag – 10 blue and gold horizontal bars taken from part of the seal for Salisbury, England.
The branding will make its way into the private sector because the logos will be available for businesses to use on promotional items such as T-shirts and mugs.
The logos and a style guide will be available for download on the city website, Day said.
On Twitter @LizHolland5