An open design contest is underway to come up with a new logo for Mayor Brown’s City of Buffalo Opportunity Pledge. The logo will be launched along with an advertising campaign that rallies around the mantra “culture of diversity, inclusion, fairness and equality” as it pertains to Buffalo on the rise.
“We are seeking ideas from Buffalo residents, artists, graphic designers, students and the general public to come up with a creative, innovative and professional logo design to illustrate the concept behind the City of Buffalo Opportunity Pledge,” said Mayor Brown. “The logo should be recognizable and distinct, a symbol of the city’s values, and a reflection of the growth and opportunity that we are experiencing throughout Buffalo. By fostering a citywide mindset that embraces diversity and inclusion as core values and strengths, we move toward realizing our potential. This logo design contest is a tremendous opportunity to join a community-wide initiative that is moving Buffalo toward the goal of shared prosperity for all residents. I thank IBM and Lamar Advertising (partners in the initiative) for their valuable contributions to our City, for being among the first businesses to take and promote the Opportunity Pledge, and for the generous awards they have offered for the winners of this design contest.”
“IBM‘s enduring commitment to diversity is one of the reasons we can credibly say that IBM is one of the world‘s leading globally integrated enterprises,” stated Jay Goodwyn, IBM Buffalo Innovation Center (IBIC), Executive Director. “IBM enthusiastically supports Mayor Brown’s opportunity pledge. We live by the values of diversity and inclusion every day at IBM, where diversity it is a core belief and a key ingredient that enables us to be successful as a company. We are very pleased to be part of Mayor Brown’s diversity initiative and proud to be here today in support of the Buffalo Opportunity Pledge. Beth Stubbe, IBM’s Talent Development Manager, and I have both signed the pledge and encouraged others at the IBM Buffalo Innovation Center to do the same.”
The winning submission will receive:
• 1-year Adobe Creative Cloud subscription and Wacom Pen ($680 value)
• Logo displayed citywide on billboards
• Logo featured on Government Channel 22, City of Buffalo website, social media sites and at community events
• Artist and logo featured at media events as it relates to the Buffalo Opportunity Pledge
View and sign the pledge at: www.city-buffalo.com/BuffaloOpportunityPledge.
E-mail submissions are due by midnight on July 6, 2015 to: opportunitylogo@city-buffalo.com. Winners will be announced on July 13, 2015.
A few rules and guidelines (View contest guidelines at city-buffalo.com/OpportunityLogo):
- Professional – As the new logo will be featured on the City of Buffalo web site and other social media platforms, as well as things like billboards, T-shirts and other items, the logo must be eye-catching, easily identifiable and legible. It must promote the significance of the City of Buffalo Opportunity Pledge.
- Color – Each logo submitted must have a version in a) color, and b) black and white line art or grayscale.
- Integrity – Logos cannot contain copyrighted material and may not include any images that have been previously published. Logos must be created and edited by the entrant and must be easily reproducible and scalable for large and small formatting
- Entries must be submitted in the original source file as either a high-resolution (300 dpi or higher) JPEG, TIF or PNG file.
- The winning entry shall become the sole and exclusive property of The City of Buffalo, who will have the right to alter, modify or revise the logo as it sees necessary to achieve the goals of the Opportunity Pledge.
- If all entries are deemed unsuitable, the City of Buffalo has the right to extend the contest deadline or reject all submissions and declare the competition ended without awarding a winner.
- The contest is open to people of all ages. Again, the deadline for entries is midnight on July 6, 2015.