Isn't it time Birmingham City Council updated their logo?
I think it's awfull and matches the ugly 70's architecture we STILL haven't shaken off yet. It would look a lot better if they incorporated the Birmingham City crest or something similar.

Is it just me that hates it?

Isn't it time Birmingham City Council updated their logo?
I think it's awfull and matches the ugly 70's architecture we STILL haven't shaken off yet. It would look a lot better if they incorporated the Birmingham City crest or something similar.

Is it just me that hates it?

i think this was on the cards 10 years ago, but has not come to fruition.

The internal view on the crest of Birmingham City Council is that it should only be used on official letters from the cabinet/leader. This is due to the Council wanting to protect the quality of the crest and prevent people using it illegally and altering the image.

Somewhat spurious reasoning if you ask me.

Here's a quickie i've knocked up.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/martynahood/BCCLogo.jpg

I agree ....

http://www.localis.org.uk/images/birmingham_council.gif

.... it looked dated the day it was first used!

I agree ....

http://www.localis.org.uk/images/birmingham_council.gif

.... it looked dated the day it was first used!

That really takes me back to the 80's, that logo was everywhere.

The coat of arms is a great idea, strangely Blues were forced to drop the coat of arms in the 70's by the council. Stupid really, but on the up side we introduce the current badge, which is unique and instantly recognisable.

No chance in hell of any rebranding happening for the foreseeable, it'd be political suicide in the current climate.

There was talk a while ago of the possibility of rebranding - they'd just hired someone to be communications director or something. I emailed her imploring her that any rebranding should just use the crest, rather than pay over the odds for a new logo bullshit. Her reply was basically empty, totally non-commital on all counts.

So, if it did rebrand, probably would be something like 'bcc', all lower case, with a light typeface, given that the airport has just taken the coffee cup stains/vague circles that are usually used for new logos.

logo is fine, its recognisable

a logo is meant to be more than recognisable... im sure all Americans remember BP's logo

Yes! I've long thought this.
I think though we should simplify the crest a little - it has happened throughout history on crests of countries even - It would make it more recognizable - I propose they eliminate the people, and the Crown-Helmet-Wavy-Lines part and rebrand the Forward banner to make it less prominant.

Also, 'City of Birmingham' sounds so much nicer than Birmingham City Council. I love the colour of the Corporation Birmingham script, that should become adopted as the City Colour :)

I'll make a replica and put it on here of my proposals...

The problem I find with the current logo is not only that it is a product of the 1970's/80's but the colours are too bold and authoritative.

You will notice that logos have moved away from bold flat colours and softened the tones.

I'm not a fan of these corporate logos for bodies which are public findings and are supposed to serve citizens.

http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h368/marmite747/Birmingham.png

See? Isn't it better with all the crap stripped off it.

^^ It is, but i think losing people is unlikely.

I prefer my G, but thats a minute detail, but City of Birmingham is better.

Good stuff, like it!

I kinda got what they were driving at with the original logo being a slightly abstracted heart as Birmingham is the "Heart of England", but I agree that the colours are too bold and simple and the logo is too plain. On saying that I'm sure the Council love it as it'll be cheap to get it printed; only 2 colours and nothing fancy....cheapskates!

Anyway, I'm liking the designs, Hoody's font with Marmite747's crest would be striking.

Hoody: What do you mean by "Corporation of Birmingham"?

Random idea... Have the coat of arms as the main logo, with a bold typeface for "Birmingham City Council" centralised underneath - then have a series of variations on that theme. For example:-

Replace the BCC coat of arms with the Cadbury's Glass & A Half logo - "Birmingham City Council" written in the Cadbury font

Replace the BCC coat of arms with a Jaguar logo "Birmingham City Council" written in the Jaguar font

Replace the BCC coat of arms with a something depicting Selfridges "Birmingham City Council" written in the Selfridges & Co. Font

Etc. Etc. Etc....

Hoody: What do you mean by "Corporation of Birmingham"?

The Corporation of Birmingham was a guise of Birmingham City Council when they were responsible for utilities and transportation. If you look arous a few old council buildings you will this used instead of BCC.

Also it is how Corporation St got it's name.

Ahh okay.

Every day's a school day :)

The logo can look good sometimes....

...the simplicity of it is quite striking here...

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o114/fruityandnutty/swimmer_tb.jpg

(picture from City of Birmingham SC website)

That Forward (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/tags/forward) coat of arms is everywhere ...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3571/3672529783_6b3c487f04_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/3672529783/)
Forward - coat of arms of Birmingham on Victoria Square (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/3672529783/) by ell brown (http://www.flickr.com/people/ell-r-brown/), on Flickr

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4067/4369084230_c3b90876f1_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4369084230/)
Centenary Way - road sign - Forward (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4369084230/) by ell brown (http://www.flickr.com/people/ell-r-brown/), on Flickr

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4024/4696088277_35128a33b4_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4696088277/)
Barford Street - road sign - Forward B (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4696088277/) by ell brown (http://www.flickr.com/people/ell-r-brown/), on Flickr

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2748/4328702498_1ab88e4fcc_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4328702498/)
Acocks Green Library, Shirley Road, Acocks Green - Forward coat of arms (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4328702498/) by ell brown (http://www.flickr.com/people/ell-r-brown/), on Flickr

There's also this Birmingham logo (usually on the borders e.g. with Solihull)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4624925855_058c090709_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4624925855/)
Welcome to Birmingham - More Music Variety Heart 100.7 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4624925855/) by ell brown (http://www.flickr.com/people/ell-r-brown/), on Flickr

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/4624927481_cf0d6c6693_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4624927481/)
Thank you for visiting Birmingham - sign (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4624927481/) by ell brown (http://www.flickr.com/people/ell-r-brown/), on Flickr

A few shots with the Birmingham City Council logo

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/4630095550_0b2b5ba995_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4630095550/)
The Library of Birmingham - Centenary Square - Birmingham Big City Plan and Birmingham City Council sign (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4630095550/) by ell brown (http://www.flickr.com/people/ell-r-brown/), on Flickr

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/4326417774_dc46ee9283_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4326417774/)
Stone Hall Adult Education Centre, Warwick Road, Acocks Green - Birmingham City Council sign (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4326417774/) by ell brown (http://www.flickr.com/people/ell-r-brown/), on Flickr

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4402760704_0d318a31ba_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4402760704/)
Birmingham City Council - Housing Private Grounds - signs (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4402760704/) by ell brown (http://www.flickr.com/people/ell-r-brown/), on Flickr

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4104/5029790440_c7f3ec4776_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/5029790440/)
Birmingham City Council - Environmental Services - No unauthorised parking - sign (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/5029790440/) by ell brown (http://www.flickr.com/people/ell-r-brown/), on Flickr

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2561/4233744412_b2d81012d0_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4233744412/)
Brasshouse Language Centre - Sheepcote Street - sign - formerly the South Staffordshire Waterworks Co. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4233744412/) by ell brown (http://www.flickr.com/people/ell-r-brown/), on Flickr

Whatever happened to the rounded 'b' logo as used by Marketing Birmingham for the be in Birmingham campaign. Marketing Birmingham an off shoot of BCC and BCC doesn't even take heed of them.

No wonder they are ineffective.

I don't post very often but thought I could contribute here. A few years ago I worked in the Corporate Design dept in the Communications (as was) team at BCC. Things may have changed a bit since I was there, but this was the basic gist of them:

Firstly, the 'heart' logo was intended for use for all council services - to represent the entire organisation. On the other hand, the Birmingham Coat of Arms is ceremonial and reserved for use by the Lord Mayor. This illustrates the division between the council services and the politicians (like the division between the civil services and the Government). In fact, written permission had to be sought from the Lord Mayor's Parlour (the admin team) to use the Coat of Arms on any council publication.

Regarding the rebrand, I remember there being a huge amount of support for this move within the council comms teams for pretty the same reasons you've outlined here. From a graphic designer's point of view, it's a difficult logo to work with as it's so long and thin (a bit like the PriceWaterhouseCoopers logo which I think is now being phased out). And it's all very 80s and blah blah blah.

However, the logistics of a rebrand for such a large organisation are frankly prohibitive, especially with the current financial climate. It's not just the development of a logo which will get general approval from not only the citizens, but also the politicians (who drive the budget), but think about the expense of phasing the brand in across the city.

You would have to cover the website, stationery used across the city, signage on every council depot, building and service, livery for every vehicle, security badges, uniforms where needed, the list goes on... And while, the coat of arms is all very nice and classic, it uses four colours (or five if gold metallic is used), whereas the current logo is only two. And it's an absolute pisser to use small or in mono black (I speak from experience as I had to redraw the thing in vectors as they were using some kind of dodgy scan for print).

Even if the new brand were phased in (which is the best way of doing it), the cumulative cost of doing so would be massive. And when the council is cutting jobs with abandon, it's probably not top of their list.

So, as a designer while I'm no big fan of the BCC logo, it's better to have a consistent brand for council services, than to have a new brand which is patchily applied and, let's face it, will look just as dated in another 10 years (just look at that dicey 90s logo they rolled out for the G8, and that dodgy round 'be birmingham' and unusable accompanying typeface that Marketing Birmingham came up with for the EU City of Culture bid).

Much as I hate to say it, I think we're going to be stuck with the old logo for quite a while, and even worse, it's probably for the right reasons.

The other issue with coats of arms is that so many towns and cities have them that they are very hard to distinguish between one and another. At least the blue and red heart, plain as it is, is still pretty unique.

Good input here.
I completely understand the cost involved and you're right about it not being a foreseable change in the near future but I think it should be changed when funds and time permit.