Union County Chamber of Commerce Announces New Style & Brand Identity
By Paul Hall on Wednesday, January 20th, 2021 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
La Grande – The Union County Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Information Center, located in Downtown La Grande, is excited to announce the release of a new logo, website, and total brand identity for the organization. Over the past two years, under the leadership of Executive Director Suzannah Moore-Hemann and Office Coordinator Sandra Patterson, the Union County Chamber has been in an extraordinary and unprecedented phase of transformation and rebirth – into a modernized, sleek, professional image and as a living organization – now more than ever before, better poised to serve its members, investors, and visitors to this area. The new style and branding project was a concerted partnership effort between the Union County Tourism Promotion Advisory Committee, the Union County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and staff, Worthy Marketing (worthymarketing.co), Distill Creative Studio (studiostill.com), as well as with input and insight from a number of Chamber members throughout Union County.
“There have been many previous discussions regarding the style and promotion of Union County to both our internal stakeholders, as well as those who inquire about Union County from all over the country and the world,” commented Suzannah Moore-Hemann, Executive Director of the Union County Chamber. “We wanted to develop a style truly capturing the essence of La Grande and Union County – something timeless and modern, but something meaningful and characterizing a rich historic past. This update and revamp to our style and representation is only a small piece of the larger picture – we’re updating how we do business – how we can best serve the business environment, our member businesses; how we can best interact with our partners; how we can be all-around better in, for, and with our community – how this organization operates and serves Union County,” she added.
The new style guide launches a “Calderock” sans serif font with a bold typeface and vintage design, anchored by the more-common “Trade Gothic” for not only its simple typeface, but also its rich and complex history, full of unexpected character – the perfect representation of the vast, rich history of Union County and its many assets, from outdoor recreation to the thriving arts and cultural scene, to a plethora of sports, shopping, and dining, to its robust and intricate past.
“We are so excited to be able to unveil this new style – and not only that, but we also left it open with room to grow. It’s our long-term goal to incorporate ‘sketches’ and ‘badges’ for all of our assets – a cohesive look for anyone who’d like to use it” Moore-Hemann continued, “We can’t wait to work with local artists to continue building out this brand, helping make Union County, Oregon a place you won’t be able to not enjoy!”
The new logo, reminiscent of a postmark, represents Union County’s worthiness of a destination, while at the same represents the Chamber’s delicate but critical daily support of the business community. The Chamber’s website, www.VisitUnionCounty.org, re-launched with a more contemporary color palette and a shift in creative style, featuring more travel-centric imagery, and more images and less text. The site was also organized with a more user-friendly interface and layout, making it much easier to navigate, and much easier to highlight Chamber members, for added value and usability.
“As excited as we are about the new branding and style, we’ll be gradually updating marketing collateral and assets, rather than all at once,” Moore-Hemann added. “It’s going to be great to have these new marketing and style tools, but we have to maintain realistic timelines for rollout.”
