Austin officials revealed a new city logo on Thursday, September 4, marking the first unified brand identity in the city’s history. The internet, however, has a lot to say about the logo, most of it not great.
The design is a stylized letter "A" that looks almost like a wave in blue and green, with Austin's name below it. The new logo is a small part of a $1.1 million rebranding project for the city of Austin.
Austin, Texas, debuts new city logo
The city currently uses more than 300 logos across departments, which leaders argued created confusion. Consequently, the City Council approved the rebranding effort back in 2018. Designed by global firm Pentagram and Austin-based TKO, the logo cost about $200,000 of the overall budget. City leaders said the remaining funds covered vendor work and public awareness efforts.
City of Austin Chief Communications Director Jessica King said in a press release, "The logo itself reflects the hills, rivers, and bridges that serve to connect us to one another. The colors were inspired by our surrounding environment – violet crown skies and the green canopies of our parks and trails."
"We deliberately chose a mark that reminded us of movement to reflect how welcoming, flexible and resilient this community and our employees are," she added.
Nevertheless, not everyone in power was convinced. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) blasted the rebrand on The Will Cain Show. He claimed officials "want to go spend a million dollars on a rebrand, get rid of a cross and make it some sort of, you know, a woke-looking band emblem."
He also accused leaders of ignoring urgent needs, such as crime and 911 response times.
Social media slams the redesign
Online reactions came fast and, for the most part, werecritical of the redesign. One person on X wrote, "Well that's ugly. It looks like someone checking the ink on their markers. How much for this? $1M."
Others compared it to a garbage truck or a math textbook publisher’s logo.
"Hey #cityofaustin it sucks! But why should I be surprised? The whole city has gone down the toilet!" another person said.
"The new logo has stripped away all meaning, class, and character," wrote @mnwickens. "It's just meaningless. I've seen Captcha tests with more soul."
"The fact that they wasted $1.1 million on this that could've gone to our school district is sickening," wrote @hhud_c. "It would've taken anyone 5 minutes to make this logo on AI. I strongly disagree with this change and think it is an embarrassment for our city."
One angry person tweeted, "They paid' $1.1 M for this?! I'd say this calls for immediate firing! WHAT A WASTE OF TAXPAYER MONEY!"
@crystalgroves tweeted, "Austin’s new logo redesign shows how deeply identity can collide with public sentiment. Personally, while I didn't -hate- the design, it definitely felt too corporate, like a non-profit for kids, more so than a representation of culture in Austin."
"Meaning precedes form. When identity is civic, symbolic, visual, and emotional, every pixel matters. Design for connection, not abstraction," they added as a warning to graphic designers.
The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s newsletter here.
