Rhode Island
GoLocalProv | News | EDITORIAL: It Is Time to Kill That Orange “P” — It Never Was Providence
Tuesday, July 25, 2023
IMAGE: City of Providence
It is time. Actually, way past time to kill the orange “P” logo designed not by a brilliant artist from the “Creative Capital.”
Before there was “Cooler and Warmer,” there was the creation of the Providence “P,” an equally silly tapping of an out-of-state company.
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The orange “P” was created by North Star Destination Strategies, a Nashville company that has done branding for upwards of 100 government entities — cities, counties, you name it. Nothing against North Star, but they are not Providence.
Think puppy mills for communities’ “authentic” branding.
The Tennessee company has done slews of P cities — Peoria, Petersburg (Alaska, not to be confused with St. Petersburg in Russia), and Placer (county in California).
This is not a case of domestic xenophobia — in fact, we love Nashville. You can fly direct from RI International for a fun weekend getaway — but Providence may have as many great designers as anywhere in the world per capita.
Let’s go back in the time machine to understand when and why the city was rebranded — and who was behind it.
It started in 2008, and the genesis was petty politics. The city in the late 1990s and early 2000s had generated national attention as The Renaissance city.
But that notoriety happened under Buddy Cianci.
David Cicilline was then elected Mayor, and he wanted his own brand.
So Cicilline’s administration hired the Nashville company to come up with the “P.” Yup, to define the “Creative Capital,” he went down south.
The city spent a cool $100,000 with the Nashville team, but that only made local artists warmer (with ire).
At the time, Providence was home to Malcolm Grear, arguably the greatest American graphic designer — he created the graphic identity for two Olympics, CVS, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and on and on.
But Cicilline went Nashville.
The city got an orange “P” and the rest is mediocre design history.
Let’s rebrand Providence — let’s tap a panel of some of the best creatives in Rhode Island to be the judges, offer up a pretty pot to the winner and open the contest up the the best and brightest in Rhode Island.
An editorial is the opinion of a publication — specifically, the ownership.
While based on facts and news reporting, it is an opinion intended to discuss critical community issues. Often, the opinion is written with the intention of positive change.
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