When it comes to branding — private enterprise does it best

You may have noticed that Historic City News has a new masthead that includes a beautiful new 450th Commemorative logo. The design came to us courtesy of the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park. This logo was developed in 2015 by, Kit Keating and John W. Fraser, Managing Director of the Park.

Historic City News first reported on June 28, 2011 when St Augustine City Manager John Regan got approval of a $5,000 budget for the design and rollout of the first “official” 450th Commemoration logo. Over the next four years, three more versions, and thousands more tax dollars would be paid to City insiders for additional versions of a logo.

“We began the logo design and implementation early in 2015, after difficulties arose over implementing the city’s official 450th logo,” said Keating, who is Public Relations Manager for the Fountain of Youth. “It seems that becoming a 450th partner did not allow the ease of use of the official logo as purported.”

Historic City News was also a 450th Alliance Partner and we observed the same problems reported by the Fountain of Youth and dozens of our readers, advertisers, and sponsors.

No matter, Keating and Fraser researched the heraldry of the period. They selected a complementary hue and saturation combination to enhance the chosen coat of arms and crafted the placement of the text. The result was this iconic representation of our 450th Commemoration.

Not only do we find the logo attractive and like that it uses the City’s well established color palate, it cost the taxpayers nothing and cost the Fountain of Youth less than $500.00 to create, according to Keating.

Historic City News appreciates the Fountain of Youth making the logo available to us for this use. Once again, private enterprise sees a problem and quickly and efficiently develops a solution.