An Overwhelming Consensus In A City Of Many Voices

In a city of many voices, Leon County Schools unveiled their new logo. We took our survey directly to you in order to find out your thoughts and feelings on the rebrand. An overwhelming consensus was reached well before a full 24 hours lapsed. Within 17 hours we received 149 survey responses and observed numerous comments on various pages (WCTV, WTXL, TDO, LCTA) that requested the public to weigh in on the new logo. Our survey revealed 95.97% (143) of respondents stated that the new logo would not make them want to use the public school system.

Why The Change And The Meaning Of The Logo Choice

On Leon County Schools (LCS) website (https://www.leonschools.net/brand) they explain that they are changing the logo due to the antiquated old logo and wanting their “brand” to reflect their mission and values.

LCS explains the the star represents many aspects of the public school system including academic excellence of their students, teachers, and the staff. While this might be their intent we received several responses saying the star elicited thoughts of the state of Texas. Some responses made us laugh with references to Beyonce “This ain’t Texas.” Others thought the star was there maybe because we are the capital of Florida. Many people felt confused with this aspect of the logo and were just unsure how it fit in with the public school system.

LCS states that the shape is an abstract representation of the county and represents the diversity of the community and the diversity of opportunities found within the school system. The video also states that the lines making up the shape represent the districts. We, the people of Tallahassee, expressed multiple times and in multiple ways confusion over the color choices, the shape, and the broken lines. We heard a range of observations about the shape representing common core math, less than seven (<7), the broken lines representing a broken system, and the removal of the book representing the current book bans.

When this survey was published we intentionally did not include the explanations of everything due to wanting people to give an impression on what they saw. 850CapitalTea is by no means an expert in marketing, however we did speak to a few neighbors that are and they all expressed that a logo shouldn’t have to be overly explained for people to understand.

What Was Included In The Cost?

LCS states that the budget was $100,000 and included an open bid process. They decided on Hammerhead Communications which is owned by Skip Foster. Please note that 850CapitalTea attempted to follow Skip Foster on X but we were immediately blocked therefore we won’t be able to provide much insight on his interactions with the public or his views and how they align with the school board or public.

The $100,000 covered a ten month process and included the following services: development of a brand marketing strategy, planning and executing multiple diverse focus groups of parents and teachers, conducting market research, multiple iterations of brand concepts, development of a brand roll out plan (note they had to postpone the initial roll out due to teacher negotiations and the cost of this project), a media relations and social media brand roll out plan, development of creative assets for post brand launch marketing campaign.

LCS feels they should argue that this is spending the money in the classroom. We feel it is important to tell our audience that you and your children are more than money. While the truth may be that you child’s enrollment means more money for the school, we feel that the success of our children is in the quality of our teacher and supporting staff.

Frequently Repeated Comments From A City Of Many Voices

When viewing the logo, what do you think of or feel? (thank you to our audience, some of these comments really made us laugh)

• Confused
• What are the colors for?
• Corporate
• Is this a school?
• Bank
• Waste of money
• My (insert young child age) could have done this
• Should have included the students and had a competition
• Should have had the teachers design it and given the winner the money
• Out of place
• This ain’t Texas
• Took the ‘book’ out of the schools
• cheap
• not well thought out
• Microsoft
• not lined up on right, It’s like it’s running away
• looks cheesy
• disappointed
• ridiculous

If you have kids, what do they say when they see it?

• could have been better
• they like it better
• looks AI generated
• they don’t care
• mid
• boring
• meh
• weird
• stupid
• why?
• ugly

Final Thoughts

One more overwhelming observation by the survey respondents is that the school board is out of touch with the community. We feel ignored and disregarded. Many voices mentioned the teachers pay being a higher priority. Even more explained to us that they wish the money had been spent on programs to help the critical needs populations ( IEP, title one, etc). Ultimately the community, teachers, and staff have already been expressing what we would like to see changed.

We are a city of many voices. We are louder and better together, I promise they are starting to hear your voices so keep using them. Keep the conversation going, keep making noise, and let’s make our government work for us.