Colorado Springs Unveils Re-Branded Logo For 'Live It Up!' Slogan; What Do You Think? (PHOTOS, VOTE)

A 2011 campaign to re-brand Colorado Springs took seven months, $111,000, and the coordination of hundreds of people. It only took one day for popular backlash to destroy the campaign amidst calls for a locally-designed alternative.

And so, after several days of significant "mixed community feedback" to the original design, a newly-formed "Community Branding Task Force" spent several months selecting a new logo. A December 2011 press release makes clear the "Live it up!" tagline would stay, but the associated logo would not.

The new brand, revealed April 2, is a huge step forward. Where the previous logo evoked mid-1990s softball leagues and late 90s clip-art, the new successfully ties Colorado Springs' natural landmarks to broader imagery of Colorado as a whole.

As for the "Live it up!" tagline, the exclamation point has been dropped, and the creatives behind the effort convinced the team not to use it except when necessary. A press release explains, "the concept is there to reinforce the literal and figurative elevation that the city and region represent.”

Troy and Sara DeRose of Fixer Creative Co. competed with other Colorado Springs firms to win the contract.

"We were just looking at the landscape," said Troy to the Gazette, explaining the color palette. "I spent some time checking out the Garden of the Gods and the landscape of the city - those were the exact colors I saw when I looked at the city: It's the red-orange of Garden of the Gods, it's the deep blue of Pikes Peak and it's the light blue of the sky."