What you need to know:
- Houston city officials have launched a public contest to replace the city’s logo in an effort to use clearer artwork that reflects the community.
- The current, decades-old logo became distorted after digitization and becomes even less clear when reproduced at small sizes. For example, a bird appears to be a flying shark, officials said.
- Artists can submit designs through April 27, with finalists advancing to a public vote and winners receiving prizes and recognition.
- Short on time but need the local news scoop? Get free weekly news in your inbox for Mat-Su, from Mat-Su.
Most of the problems with Houston’s city logo can be blamed on the computer age. Now, city officials are running a contest to find a fix.
All was well with the city’s longtime logo when it was used as visual artwork in person, city officials and local history buffs said. It was created as part of a contest for schoolchildren, said Elsie O’Brien, who worked as the city’s clerk in the 1980s and later sat on the City Council. It is supposed to show an angler enjoying the river against fireworks, green bushes and a mountain as a bird soars overhead.
But when officials digitized the logo about 20 years ago, things got weird, current city staff said…