Madera County wrestles with its ‘brand’

Irvine-based marketing and digital media agency Five Creative Group returned before Madera County supervisors this week to present possible redesigns of the county’s logo, part of an ongoing effort to improve the area’s public “branding.”

The current logo has a mix of graphic techniques and styles that make it challenging to faithfully reproduce, according to Five Creative Group. As a result, multiple variations are in use by the county.

The sample modernized logos follow a current digital trend towards “flat” design, followed most notably by Microsoft Windows 8 operating system in 2012, Apple since 2013 and by Google’s Android since 2014. Flat design avoids any dimensionality in images, such as shadows and textures.

All but Supervisor David Rogers, District 2, pushed to retain the historic granite courthouse as part of the logo, but Supervisor Brett Frazier, District 1, questioned whether it made sense to create a logo before first defining the county’s identity.

“Supervisor (Robert) Poythress had said the timing is right and I agree with that, (but) are we somewhat getting the cart before the horse though? We need to know what is our brand before we understand what we want to convey,” Frazier said at Tuesday’s regular board meeting. “You’re just taking what we have existing and trying to deconstruct it to make it what it (already) is right now (but) much better.”

Several supervisors were pleased that the design was flat, rather than “dated” or “trendy.”

The board agreed to have Five Creative Group to continue to work with the county on the logo’s design. Hope was expressed that the new logo will be finished before the county’s 125th anniversary and the launch of its revamped government website.

This isn’t the first time the Irvine agency has worked with the county on its branding. In 2016, Five Creative Group presented to supervisors its concept for a lighted county monument sign consisting of the words “Madera County” and “EST 1893” in steel letters. It would be built on the east side of State Route 41 about a mile north of the San Joaquin River. Bids for the project were received last summer.