City ED program announces new logo

Van Wert City Economic Development information

The Van Wert City Economic Development has recently chosen a new logo to serve the city’s economic development office. With input from the Van Wert Economic Development Advisory Group, the design, created by Darren Caywood, creative director and founder of Midnet Media in Minster, will allow the office to have its own identity for the city’s economic development purposes.

The design incorporates the long-held branding phase “Welcome Home” but adds a new dimension depicting a more current symbol of the city’s growth.  The logo illustrates a business/industrial environment with a rural, but yet, progressive atmosphere of an environmentally friendly community with the wind turbines.

According to Van Wert City Economic Development Director/Ohio State University Extension Community Development Educator Cindy Leis, the logo helps to identify the city’s office as an entity focusing primarily on the city and its surrounding assets.

“Oftentimes, your logo defines who you are and helps to identify you in the market place,” Leis said. “One of the primary objectives of the new design was to depict a small, friendly city with big city goals.”

The new logo is only the beginning of the new marketing and business development activities underway in the office as a new website is also being designed by Midnet Media. The new website will focus on encouraging visitors to learn more about Van Wert and its business attraction assets.

For instance, the website will feature a four-part video series allowing visitors to the site to learn about the existing business community, infrastructure resources, the educational institutions, available sites and business incentives. The new website will also have a webpage designed specifically for the Van Wert Job Ready Site.

The logo design project, as well as the website development project, is being funded by an AEP Ohio LEAP Grant awarded to the Community Improvement Corporation in 2014.  In addition to the 2014 grant award, AEP Ohio LEAP Grant program in 2013 funded two new industrial park signs and the Vision Industrial Park sign located on U.S. 30.