Why did the City of Brownsville pay $90,000 for a logo?

I work on Information Technology for a living, design networks and do technical support. I know how hard it is for someone to come up with something original of your own, that is why some bloggers in particular, just copy and paste someone else’s work because they lack creativity. I have been asked previously by people if I know how to design logos, and while it is not my strongest forte, I usually can manage to come up with something for them. Let’s take a look at the logos that the city had prior.

This original logo was made sometime 50 years ago. It has palm trees, clouds, and the plaza building which reminds me of the classic downtown area with the slogan “On the Border, by the Sea.” I tried to find out who made this logo but couldn’t find much information. My Library card still has this logo which is pretty neat, I guess it’s a little souvenir that I can keep.

This particular logo was made a couple of years ago which is more modernized, with the plaza building updated as a 3-D render and the main 2 palm trees with more shades of green, and silhouettes of even more palm trees in the back and a sunrise, giving the impression that Brownsville is a place that is nice and sunny and of course the classic slogan of “On the Border, by the Sea.”

So what does it take to design a logo? When designing a logo a lot of thought process has to go into it, you have to research the company history, the type of business they do, geographical location, target audience etc. Typically several sketches are made and presented to the public if it’s a government entity, then the one with the most votes is chosen. Should the city cough up a check for $90,000? I would say that any other reputable marketing company would of charged somewhere around $5000 for a logo, maybe $10,000 tops and that is just pushing it, that leaves $80,000 left over, I don’t want to say that foul play is involved and that money is being slipped under the table , but it sure does seem very suspicious.

Other graphic design artists on Facebook submitted some pieces of work and mentioned they probably would of done it for free or maybe a VIP pass at the Brownsville Beer Best coming up.