The Flyer gets a logo

April 21, 2009 5:22 pm · By Todd Gill · 34 Comments

For the past 16 months, the Fayetteville Flyer has been mostly faceless in terms of a brand. Sure, there have been a few variations of the unicorn hog (unihog?) that appeared in the header bar over the course of time but there’s been nothing by way of an actual logo.

That’s not to say we haven’t tried, though. Not a day has gone by without us sitting down and tinkering with a multitude of different ideas. It’s just that nothing ever stuck.

Part of the reason for that is because the site has been constantly evolving since day one. Whereas we started as a simple blog that only a few of you checked on a daily basis, the Flyer has become a full-on community complete with thousands of readers, a lively group of regular commenters and a handful of contributors who graciously donate their time in an effort to help us all celebrate the city we love so much.

Bingo!

A few weeks ago, we hit on an image that seemed to encompass exactly what we wanted both in terms of a mark that could stand alone and something that could be incorporated into the name of the site. But we didn’t stop there.

It seemed only fitting to ask our readers what they thought so we took to the interwebs and began asking for some critiques. Twitter was our main avenue for getting input and about a dozen of you who were up past midnight last week actually helped mold our rough graft into a complete logo.

A few variations of our new logo.

So what is it?

At the heart of the mark is simply two letter Fs back-to-back which, of course, stand for Fayetteville Flyer and there’s a couple of punctuation marks in the middle but the rest is up to you. What do you see? We’ve heard lots of interesting ideas so far such as a butterfly, wings and even ears.

We’re very excited to have finally come up with something we’re proud of and that we believe is able to walk the line between professional and fun. And we’re even more excited to have been able to incorporate some of our readers’ suggestions in the mix.

What’s next?

We’re constantly striving to make things better around here and we’re always looking to add new features. As always, we’ve got a lot of high hopes and about a zillion ideas for the future and now that we can finally put the initial stages of branding behind us, it’s full speed ahead.

Currently, we’re really excited about our local band directory which is coming along nicely so far. It’s a never-ending process, though, so if you don’t see your favorite band on there, keep checking back because we’re getting a couple of submissions each day and we’re adding them as fast as we can.

We’re also working on a local information section will all sorts of valuable content like polling locations for elections, basic info about owning pets in Fayetteville and even a micro directory of things like schools, hospitals, venues, etc.

Thanks!

For real, though. Thank you for continuously stopping by, Fayetteville. You’re what keeps us up at night and I mean that in the best of ways. Without you, we’d be talking to ourselves here. As always, feel free to let us know your thoughts, to tip us off on news or to just say hello. Thanksandgoodnight.

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Comments

The Fayetteville Flyer doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy.

Matthew Petty
April 21, 2009

I like it. Keep doing what you’re doing!

Michael
April 21, 2009

Logo looks good, gonna miss the unihog though!

Gerry
April 21, 2009

Logo looks good.

Totally don’t see any ‘F’s in it, though.

origami snail
April 21, 2009

i don’t like it, and miss the hog-icorn.

rcu
April 21, 2009

I’m with Gerry. I can’t find the Fs.
I do see some snuggling raindrops.

Travis
April 21, 2009

I like it. It’s creative, good looking and very unique. Good job.

Dgold
April 22, 2009

Attractive and curious icon. Keep up the good work FF. DG

Scott Stapp of Creed
April 22, 2009

It looks like it belongs on a tai chi studio or something. An online weekly, not so much. Not a big fan of corporate branding to begin with though.

David Franks
April 22, 2009

It looks rather like “the sign” in music. Or a pair of disagreeing paisleys.

George
April 22, 2009

Looks good. The two inchworms are trying to find each other, not realizing they’re on opposite sides of the same leaf. Symbolic of the struggles of life and the artificial barriers that keep us apart. Touching.

The Unihog was cool too.

Me
April 22, 2009

I have to say I also don’t see the two Fs either. It isn’t bad, but I think it is a very feminine logo. My first impression was that it looks like a butterfly that is styled like twitter.

Kyle Judkins
April 22, 2009

I really like it, but the unihog must always live on (and sometimes be a guest logo).

a. brown
April 22, 2009

Where are the Fs? I don’t feel any connection between that symbol and the site. I’m a little confused by it.

a. brown
April 22, 2009

Ok, I see the Fs now. But the quotations are muddying them.

SteezyDeezy
April 22, 2009

I like that one quotation is “supporting” the other. Much like the interaction between the community comments and articles. A little Yin-Yang going on.

bryce
April 22, 2009

I like it, and i totally see the f’s. Think lower case peeps.

unicorn
April 22, 2009

I like it, but I wouldn’t necessarily buy a t shirt with it.

The uni-hog on the other hand…

Scott Stapp of Creed
April 22, 2009

Somebody on Facebook please start the Facebook group to bring back the Fayetteville Flyer Unihog.

Todd
April 22, 2009

Those who like it: Thanks!

Those who don’t: Sorry!

Those who don’t see Fs or quotes: Maybe this will help?

Those who miss the unihog: That dude bailed on us a few weeks ago. Maybe this will help?

Those who like butts: Hey me too!

Matthew Petty
April 22, 2009

What?! You get formatting in your comments?

Is it HTML or is it [i]BBCode[/i]?

Sorry to hijack the thread…

Todd
April 22, 2009

I think you just answered your own question, Matthew. It’s magic.

David Franks
April 22, 2009

That didn’t work the last time I tried it.

George
April 22, 2009

No one else sees the inchworms? Damn. If this was a pysch eval I’m pretty sure I’d score in the “florist” range.

Finally see the f’s. Thanks Todd.

a. brown
April 22, 2009

After the UA logo thread, don’t tell me you didn’t expect furious dissent. This commenting community loves to hate on graphics. Except for that glorious uni-swine.

Ronnie
April 22, 2009

Honestly I think it looks like it should be on some feminine hygiene product. The Hogicorn was the first thing that pulled me into the site when I found it a few months ago.

Plus mutant animals are cool.

Todd
April 22, 2009

@George: I see no inchworms. Wish I did, though!

@a. brown: To say I knew would be a terrible understatement. I’m used to it, though. Been listening to criticism of my graphical doohickies for 10 years now. Ain’t no thang.

@Ronnie: Mutant animals are definitely cool but they’re impossible to keep in captivity. Just try it.

Heather
April 22, 2009

Lulz @ the Unihog’s (I like Hogicorn better but that’s just me) location map.
Well done, Todd. I’ve been a fan, glad to see its here to stay!

Ronnie
April 22, 2009

Yeah I know what you mean Todd. I have kids. Once I drove all of them to Florida. The smell coming out of the back seat was terrible.

Timbo
April 22, 2009

I think the mark is simple and clean. It has a) a butterfly(flight) b) two f’s(duh). Getting just one of these things into the logo would have done the job, but you got both. As far as being girly looking I disagree. Great job Todd!

SteezyDeezy
May 6, 2009

The kite in the Silhouette…. Has it always been there? Just noticed it today. I guess I’m just longing for some good weather! Rain Rain go Away!!

Todd
May 7, 2009

@SteezyDeezy, actually the silhouette was just born yesterday. So to answer your question, no it hasn’t always been there. But neither has the skyline so …

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