Insane amount Nillumbik Council splashed on logo ‘brand refresh’ sparks heated debate

A Melbourne council is under fire for forking out an “outrageous” amount of cash refreshing its logo, with the result looking much the same as it did previously. See for yourself.

Nillumbik’s logo redesign, bottom right, has sparked debate.

Nillumbik Council will spend $147,000 to make its logo more accessible for people who are visually impaired.

But the move has been met with opposition, with one councillor labelling the project’s cost “outrageous” and likening the new design to a “beached whale”.

The “brand refresh” will see changes in the logo’s colour palette, font and template and will be changed on all digital and print platforms, as well as street signs across Nillumbik.

The shire is located 25km northeast of Melbourne and takes in Greensborough, Eltham, Kinglake and surrounds.

The Leader also understands the Indigenous word for welcome, wominjeka, has been incorrect on every suburb’s welcome-to signs since they were installed 25 years ago — it’s currently spelt as womin jeka on the signs.

Cr Peter Perkins said the project should not be a priority for the council.

“The house looks like it’s floating somewhere between the earth and the sky, the paint strokes look like a beached whale and the trees above it look like a mushroom is sprouting out of it,” he said.

“It’s an outrageous cost of community money to achieve this.”

Nillumbik Council’s original brand design.

The refreshed design.

Cr John Dumaresq said the money should go towards underfunded community projects.

“Look at the Hurstbridge netball courts, they have a shortfall of $180,000 and if we take out what we’re going to spend on this brand refresh in the next 18 months, that goes a long way to supplying netball courts,” he said.

But Cr Jane Ashton said the council would need to spend money on replacing signs anyway as many of them looked “old and tatty”.

“Whether its (the logo) replaced with a new brand that’s fresh and slightly different or whether we replace it with the existing brand, the current signs don’t reflect well on Nillumbik,” she said.

“There are parts of this shire that I love and am very proud of and then I look at the signage out there and it’s old, tired and hasn’t been replaced in 25 years.”

The council will start implementing the brand refresh by spending $11,000 with Vision Australia to ensure the refreshed logo will be more accessible to those with vision deficiencies.

Council spokesperson Mitch Grayson said the council had also started requesting quotes on how many welcome-to signs would need replacing.

“Depending on what quotes come back we will then determine exactly how many signs need to be replaced,” he said.

Eltham resident Jim Connor said the original logo was designed by internationally recognised illustrator Anna Walker, “so it is sad to see that connection lost”.

“But the decision has been made now so I hope council can maximise this opportunity to make the logo more accessible as they say they will,” he said.

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The sweeping stroke beneath the land and the trees in the original design highlighted the length of the horizon line and referenced the Aboriginal meaning of Nillumbik, shallow Earth.

The square block represented the urban landscape within Nillumbik, while the second brushstroke of the previous logo reflected arts and culture.

The council allocated $100,000 towards the project for this financial year.

A total of $47,660 was also allocated towards the brand refresh in the next financial year.

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