Galway City Council unveil new ‘G’ logo after controversy
The council say the new project ‘is about more than changing a logo’
Galway City Council has unveiled its new ‘G’ logo after a week of controversial backlash from local business owners and publicans.
After a review of the existing branding, GCC decided the time was right for a refresh, rolling out the logo across its vans, bins and buildings over the coming months.
The new logo retains the strong maroon colour and also ‘The Coat of Arms of Galway City’ still features as the council’s family branding.
The lower-case ‘g’ reflects “the form of the hull of the ship” from the Coat drawing on the county’s civic and maritime heritage - alongside seanchló writing which is the historic script used in Irish.
Chief Executive of Galway City Council Leonard Cleary said; “This project is about more than changing a logo. Galway City Council provides and supports a very wide range of services, from housing, roads and fire services to planning, environmental protection, tourism and community supports.
“We need to make it easier for people to recognise the role of the Council and the services we provide. The new identity is one part of that work, while also reflecting Galway's civic heritage and the important place of the Irish language in the city.
“Staff, Elected Members and members of the public brought a great deal of interest and enthusiasm to this process. Their feedback has helped shape the identity that has now been selected.”
He continued: “The rollout will be gradual. We will use the new identity when materials and assets are due to be renewed or replaced, rather than replacing items simply because the branding has changed.
“For example, new stationery will carry the new identity as part of the move to Council’s new corporate headquarters at Crown Square. Digital materials and email signatures will be updated in the coming weeks, while physical assets such as bin wraps and hoardings will adopt the new identity when they are next renewed.”
The rebranding follows a week of campaigns to ‘keep the original Galway G’ which kickstarted after businessman Fergus McGinn spoke out.
He believed the history and heritage behind the Galway ‘G’ - created by Spiddal based designer Jimmy Conneely for the city’s quincentennial celebrations - should have been preserved.