The City of Bloomington hired an outside firm last year to design a new logo and brand scheme. The results presented Wednesday night to city council were poorly received.

Colorado-based CivicBrand’s design process began more than a year ago. The Mayor’s Office said it was following the recommendation of a city task force to create a branding strategy that would “strengthen Bloomington’s economic competitiveness.”

The $95,000 package includes redesigned logos for city departments, color scheme and font recommendations and other style advice. CivicBrand said its recommendations were developed after surveying more than 600 locals.

CivicBrand president Ryan Short told the council its design work goes beyond logo and visual identity.

“What a brand does is it creates a shared vision, a shared north star of ‘this is what we're all trying to solve,’” Short said. “So that at every level of staff, council, budget, policy decision, all of those decisions can slightly align toward one shared direction.”

Brand guidelines shared last week include a list of brand principles (defined in the presentation as “fundamental truths about our brand”) such as “high-caliber quirk” and “designed for creative collision.”

These are intended to serve as the basis for city marketing and communications. As one example of brand messaging, CivicBrand recommended: “A priest, a rabbi, and a banjo-playing quantum physicist walk into a bar… Welcome to Bloomington.”

The proposed logo, a sleek letter B, prompted criticism on social media for appearing generic and, as one local pundit said, looking like a human butt. Others criticized the choice of an out-of-town designer.

Councilmember Dave Rollo repeated some criticism he said he’d heard from constituents.

“It seems ordinary,” Rollo said. “It's generic. It's corporate.”

Deputy Mayor Gretchen Knapp clarified that as she understood it, the rebrand does not require an ordinance to implement, although changing the city seal would. She added that the rollout would not happen all at once, and elements of the design could be used as needed.

Council president Isak Asare praised CivicBrand for the quality of work but said neither he nor his peers liked the brand as presented.