Buffalo facing extinction - from Buffalo Grove's town logo
The buffalo is facing extinction - at least regarding its place in the village of Buffalo Grove's branding strategy.
As the village develops an economic development strategic plan, it also plans to rebrand itself with a new logo.
Working with the Decatur-based DCC Interactive Marketing Agency, the village is now considering two front-runners for its new logo.
The logos, presented before the village board Monday, were designed to have a more contemporary, progressive look, with the "Village of Buffalo Grove" replaced simply with "Buffalo Grove."
One features a buffalo, while the other displays something a buffalo might graze upon - a sprig of Indian grass.
DCC President Kara Demirjian Huss said Indian grass is rooted in the village's history, and described how the sprig appeals to Buffalo Grove's family-oriented nature and "speaks to blooming and growing."
A small buffalo appears in the second logo, standing above the word "Buffalo" in Buffalo Grove
Huss said the logos are designed to appeal to 30- to 50-year-olds - "those suburban move-ups, those empty nesters."
The rationale for dispensing with the word village in the logo?
"People know you as Buffalo Grove," Huss said. "The word village also makes you seem smaller."
Village Manager Dane Bragg said dispensing with the word "village" also allows the brand to be used by community entities that are not connected with village government.
"It just allows us to brand a lot of the events and quality-of-life initiatives, whether it's Buffalo Grove Days or it's something to do with the park district," he said. "It allows us to brand them without having the overbearing presence of 'the village of.'"
Village board members didn't embrace either logo. One, Trustee Jeffrey Berman, declared he was "underwhelmed" with the presentation.
Their comments revealed some of the challenges the village faces in conveying its distinctiveness in visual terms.
"I'm looking at block letters that just sort of sit there," said Trustee Andrew Stein.
Trustee Joanne Johnson said she preferred the logo with the buffalo.
"Everybody is trying to say that they are green and they have open space. But I think if someone is thinking of Buffalo Grove, they're going to think of the buffalo," Johnson said.
The sharpest barbs were landed by Berman, who said of the sprig logo looked weak.
"I see a very weak font, very faded colors and the sprig - honestly, my first reaction was, Charlie Brown's Christmas tree,," he said. "I don't see anything about that that conveys anything about this village at all."