New city logo to help refresh Radford

The City of Radford has decided to refresh its look for the new year.

About 15 months ago, the city conducted a study to determine what people think of when they think about the city. Mayor David Horton said ideas came from the river, parks, natural beauty, the people, education and innovation.

“We used that as a starting point to try to help us develop a look that would express those things across the way,” Horton said. “I think we were able to find something that gives a strong identity for Radford, Virginia, but it also allows the different departments and different programs to have a little bit of their own, personal identity as well.”

The city looked to resident and graphic design artist Michelle Stoddard to help them come up with a concept; she had helped the Radford Chamber of Commerce with its rebrand. Stoddard and her family are not originally from Radford, but from southwest Virginia. They move around a lot with the military.

“It has always been a dream to be involved locally wherever we are living,” Stoddard said.

Stoddard said she got her inspiration from driving around the city and looking at iconic landmarks like the Radford Theatre, murals and Ingles Mountain.

“A lot of that timeless, clean, simple, but very bold and engaging is sort of the feel that I got from everywhere in Radford,” Stoddard said. “I want the logo for everyone who lives in Radford to be proud of where they are.”

Horton said this helps to further emphasize their push to refresh the city’s look.

“Everything looks a little fresher, looks a little brighter, feels a little fresher, and that’s the way that we continue to move forward, so the residents feel like this is a contemporary place, but it feels like home,” Horton said. “It all works in concert to help people understand that this is their community, but it’s the very best version of their community.”

The idea behind the logo is to have an overall uniform look for the city, while maintaining its original identity with small attributes to the different departments.

“We wanted to come up with a logo that we could pull in for every department in the city, and so we’ve been able to use the same layout to tweak for all of the departments so they all have their own identity, but it’s still a cohesive look for Radford,” Stoddard said.

Different department logos are being finalized at this time.

“What we were able to do with this process is really position ourselves to be a leader in the region, telling our story, showcasing the wonderful things that are happening in Radford and setting a standard that other communities will aspire to as well,” Horton said.

The city is planning to distribute bumper stickers featuring the new logo before the end of the month.

The mayor said the project has cost the city about $2,800.