THE FACTS:

Melbourne city lord Mayor Robert Doyle has found himself in hot water after spending $240 000 on a new logo for the city, which was revealed today.

It stark contrast to the previous 1992 city emblem, which incorporated a leaf around a fragmented ‘M’, the new logo consists of blue shards of glass coming together to give a 3D feel.

Many felt he emblem may have missed the mark, with a leading Melbourne brand expert saying it a design his four-year-old daughter could have created. Others, however, feel it was time for a change, believing the new logo symbolises Melbourne’s modern and vibrant image.

Like it or not, criticisms have also been aimed at the council for overspending and using money that could have gone to city safety or helping the homeless.

The $240,000 spent on the logo, $148,000 for the design and $92,000 on research, has been seen as a misuse of taxpayers money, however when you compare it to what other organizations have paid for logos, Melbourne city got a bargain!

London has spent over $1million on their new Olympic emblem, and the Commonwealth Bank spent a whopping $11 million dollars for the famous diamond logo.

In tough economic times like these however, governments and councils will always be criticized for aesthetic city spending.

THE VIEWS:

Anson Cameron for The Age:

“Some dude in Sydney just got $240,000 for writing an M. We hope you don’t laugh. But we’re going to keep straight faces. Any Melbourne ratepayer who doesn’t feel they have been swooped upon and laid waste by a band of brigands who are now dancing around a harbour-side brassiere naked, dousing each other in white rum, is impervious to injustice and could be burgled thrice weekly for a decade without realising their chattels are thinning.”

Melbourne University brands expert Prof Bryan Lukas, as reported in the Herald Sun:

“If we are supposed to be the city like a San Francisco or Boston, more cultural and four seasons, this ‘M’ doesn’t represent that. If we are supposed to be the city like a San Francisco or Boston, more cultural and four seasons, this ‘M’ doesn’t represent that.”

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle in a media release:

“The new design will become an icon for Melbourne, synonymous with the modern, vibrant, cool city Melbourne is today and will continue to be in the future. Both the world and the city have changed and the leaf logo no longer reflects modern Melbourne and its true international standing.”

BREAKING IT DOWN:

A) The city council’s spending of taxpayers’ money on unnecessary things, such as new logos and designs.

How will a new logo help the image of our city when poverty on the streets still exists? Would it not be better to improve the standard of life in our city rather than to improve our city logo?

B) What the symbol represents and what it means to our city.

Is the fragmented shades of glass used in the logo supposed to indicate the modern, new, ‘cool’ city we live in and is it a sign of moving with the modern times? And is this a true representation of Melbourne?

WHAT’S YOUR OPINION?

Do you think the new Melbourne City Logo is worth almost a quarter of a million dollars?