The City of Austin has become the latest municipality to face intense public backlash after unveiling a controversial new unified brand design, marking the first cohesive branding project in the city's history. The rebrand, which cost just over $1.1 million, has drawn mixed reactions from residents, with most social media responses showing little support for the new visual identity.
At the center of Austin's new branding system is an abstract green and blue-violet letter "A" created with a continuous ribbon shape designed to reference the area's rivers, rolling hills, and bridges. The logo is accompanied by a serifed "Austin" wordmark positioned below the stylized A design. The color palette combines blue-violet and green tones that draw inspiration from the region's distinctive violet crown skies and the lush green canopies found throughout local parks and trails.
The City of Austin collaborated with local agency TKO and Pentagon's Austin office on the comprehensive rebranding project, with renowned local designer DJ Stout leading the visual brand design efforts. "The logo itself reflects the hills, rivers, and bridges that serve to connect us to one another," explained Jessica King, Austin's Chief Communications Director, in the official press release. "The colors were inspired by our surrounding environment, violet crown skies and the green canopies of our parks and trails. We deliberately chose a mark that reminded us of movement to reflect how welcoming, flexible and resilient this community and our employees are."
City leadership is positioning the new centralized brand as a strategic solution to unify more than 300 different municipal departments, making City communications more easily recognizable to residents. City Manager T.C. Broadnax emphasized the practical benefits of the unified approach, stating, "We want our community members to be able to identify members of our team as City of Austin employees and trust the services we provide. Whether they see the brand on a website, a utility bill, a street sign, or the side of a vehicle, they'll know exactly who it's from and what it stands for."
The rebranding initiative traces back to 2018, when the Austin City Council first proposed creating a new, modern, cohesive identity for the city to replace the outdated use of the original 1916 seal. That century-old seal, originally created for a flag design contest, remains the official City of Austin seal but will no longer serve as the city's primary brand identity – a role it was never originally intended to fill.
Public reaction to the new logo has been overwhelmingly critical across social media platforms, with the $1.1 million price tag drawing as much attention as the design itself. On Facebook, residents have expressed frustration about the design process, with some asking, "We have such a vibrant arts community here. Why not ask them to submit designs?" Other comments have been more blunt in their assessment, with critics comparing the logo to "some kind of toothpaste" packaging or "a Girl Scout cookie box."
The criticism has been equally harsh on Reddit, where design-savvy users have dissected both the visual elements and the creation process. One designer commented, "This is what happens when you get focus groups and a ton of uncreative stakeholders involved. I like the A mark. With nicer colors and a better typeface, it would be less bad." Others have dismissed the design as overly "clinical" or similar to something that might be generated by a free online logo-making application.
From an objective design perspective, the logo presents both strengths and weaknesses. The single, continuous A shape effectively references Austin's distinctive landscape features through its curved design, while the color choices authentically reflect the local environment. However, critics argue that the design lacks uniqueness, noting that it could theoretically represent any city beginning with "A" since most major cities feature bridges, rivers, and neighborhoods, and all cities have skies and green spaces.
The City of Austin plans to begin implementing the new brand starting October 1, with a phased rollout approach that prioritizes digital assets first, followed by physical materials according to individual department schedules and replacement needs.
