Thomasville NC, Rebrand Book

Comprehensive Rebrand Guide

This rebrand was curated, edited, and designed by Paxton Taylor as a personal passion project. I do not own the rights to photographs included.

History of Thomasville, NC Built around the local railway system, Thomasville was established in 1852. Notable for its history in the furniture industry, as it was once the home to Thomasville Furnishing Industries. With its 30-foot replica of a Duncan Phyfe armchair sitting in the middle of its historical downtown, Thomasville has been nicknamed “Chair City” and is home to the oldest railroad depot in the state.

In the last decade, Thomasville’s economy was hit hard and Chair City suffered the loss of it’s many thriving furniture and hosiery companies. With the majority of the town’s population out of a job leaving more than dozen factories empty, Thomasvillian’s agreed that their home became a ghost town.

Fast-forwarding to today, Thomasville has overcome the odds and is now home to a number of new industries and small businesses. Even though Thomasville is a small town the potential is endless.

Thomasville is truly Smalltown, USA.

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The Logo Fail Recently, Thomasville went under a complete rebrand when the Area Chamber of Commerce worked with an out-of-state marketing firm for the city’s strategic planning and brand development process, spending a total of $52,000 for the revitalization.

The intentions for the rebrand were almost spot on, as it focused on Thomasville as a forward-thinking community with an endless possibility of opportunity. Unfortunately, the final execution of the visual brand/logo is nonreflective of the town’s true potential.

The newly updated logo (Fig. 01) can be broken down into multiple parts which portrays a sense of exaggeration that is unnecessary to express the vital aspect of this town. It should be simple to display the character of Thomasville. Ivan Chermayeff, a graphic designer who forged some of the most recognizable corporate logos of the second half of the 20th century spoke in an interview “... there are different answers as to what makes a good logo. They should be very simple.

Appropriate for the audience.”

So in the instance of creating a logo, what is simple? In the words of the late graphic designer, Paul Rand, “Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.” If you truly understand what a logo is and is not capable of doing, then your designs will always have the

simplicity that we all celebrate. The logo should be capable of expressing heart to represent it’s consumer. In this case, the consumer should be the people of Thomasville.

Unfortunately, with the town’s new motto/ tagline (Fig. 02) that suggests we are full of global opportunities,which tells the story that Thomasville neglects current local growth by representing the consumer as the non-residents. It’s important to celebrate what we have and always achieve for more, but the hidden concept of abandoning local opportunities is reprehensible. A great example of this is the fact that the Chamber of Commerce ignored all of our extremely talented local artists and designers for this opportunity by giving it to a out-of-state marking firm.

I find that a good logo is priceless, but a bad logo comes to an expense. In the case of Thomasville’s logo, I personally, as a graphic designer and town resident, feel that the logo does not depict the true value of Thomasville.

Thomasville is a small town that has seen much devastation but it’s people have hope their government and leaders understand that we come first which could simply translate to a new logo.

Fig 01. Main Log Breakdown Logo breakdown including snippets from the current Thomasville Brand Standards Book. These concepts are suppose to reflect the ideas that Thomasville is a friendly community that is ready to embrace not only new industry, but also the young, energetic workforce that those industries will need.

a

b

d

c

a.

b.

c.

d.

The h is an abstract treatment that evokes a chair to honor the city’s furniture history. The chair is also the visual representation of the tagline, Seated in Global Opportunity. Its blue color represents trust, peace, loyalty, honesty, sincerity, and reliability.

The word “go” is included to make a quick connection and an acronym to the town’s idea of global opportunity. This will become a simple saying of “Thomasville GO.”

The globes indicate Thomasville’s location as an ideal place for global business, as well as global reputation based on the history of Thomasville Furniture in that city; the scrolls on the “T” that overlay the globes also reference the scrollwork that is a recognized feature of Thomasville Furniture.

The typeface used for Thomasville and North Carolina is called A Day Without Sun, which evokes a modern, youthful impression. Colors represent warmth, optimism, happiness, spontaneity and energy.

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Fig 02. Tagline Logos Logos that include the tagline along an alternate with the emphasis on “go” with a plane like figure flying through it.

The tagline it’s self uses two typefaces to destiguish the “g” and “o”.

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Fig 03. Logo Translations One key thing that makes or brakes a logo is the capability to translate in one color. In this case, the globes and large “T� require a stroke that is not in the oringal for it to work.

Fig 04. Collateral In the proposed collateral, you can tell that they are using the globes and large “T� as a pattern instead of a symbol. As for the logo you can tell that it is not consistent to ensure the maximum visual impact across a variety of applications.

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Fig 05. Logos in Action Below you can see the logos in action. As you can tell due to the condenced handwritten-like typeface it is not legable.

The abstract chair, without prior knowledge of the town’s history is not a translating as a chair. The globes and large “T” are also lost due the mulitude of colors and objects.

The Logo Must go!

Now that we have examined the failed logo, it’s time to re-execute. We talked about simplicity, and how it should technically come natural when it is a great idea, no extra thought needed. Since there is an abundance of concepts in one, let’s simplify it. Given that Thomasville’s most iconic and historic monument is the Big Chair, then it should tell the town’s story.

My idea for the logo is to create a version of the Big Chair we have never seen before. I first played around with the idea of the chair to the side (Fig. 05) a simple silhouette, but it was not the chair I have burned in memory. Normally the chair is seen at an angle, so in order to create a modern and clean look I must capture the chair straight on (Fig. 06), to continue the concept of originality.

Happy about my last sketch, I moved on to making it digital edits to finalize the chair (Fig. 07). Once the chair took shape, I experimented with shapes and type pairings (Fig. 08 + 09). For the type, at first, I envisioned a serif italic typeface, but during research I realized I was accidentally mimicking the Thomasville Furniture’s logo (Fig. 10). So I moved away from that and played around with sans serif type and chose Sofia Pro for the display type and Clarendon URW for body type (Fig. 14).

The final logo is horizontal with the chair

symbol on the left and Thomasville North Carolina stacked to the right (Fig. 12). The final logo also includes a vertically stacked 1:1.1 ratio logo (Fig. 13).

As for color, I chose shades of blue (Fig.15), to evoke something light, youthful, yet professional mood. But due to the easy translations of color it can change to adapt to preference.

For the set of collateral (Fig.17), I wanted to show the ideal products that the logo will be used for. I also mocked up a sign to show the legibility compared to the current one, and a proposed lamp post flag design that include the two icons of the train caboose and clock tower (Fig. 16 + 18).

In all, I want to mention that this is not the perfect rebrand, but this is my opinion of what Thomasville deserves to have.

Fig 06. First Sketch

Fig 07. Second Sketch

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Fig 08. Chair Evolution

Fig 09. Position Evolution

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Fig 10. Type Experiments

Fig 11. Thomasville Furniture’s Logo

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Fig 12. Final Logo

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Fig 13. Final Stacked Logo

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Fig 14. Final Type Parings

Sofia Pro Bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyz 1234567890

Sofia Pro Regular ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyz 1234567890

Clarendon URW Regular ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890

Clarendon URW Regular ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890

Fig 15. Color Palette

#2c4267

#204d99

#2960bf

#2e6dd9

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Fig 16. Icons Below you can see the logos in action. As you can tell due to the condensed handwritten-like typeface it is not legible.

The abstract chair, without prior knowledge of the town’s history is not a translating as a chair. The globes and large “T” are also lost due the multitude of colors and objects.

Train Caboose

Clock Tower

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Fig 17. Collateral

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Fig 18. Mockups

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