Kaleigh Mueller of Seward designed the City of Seward’s new logo and marketing brand, which highlights Seward’s official status as the Fourth of July City.
Kaleigh Mueller has lived in Seward her whole life and recently played a major role in creating a new logo for the city.
“I never dreamed that I’d be able to do (a logo) for them,” Mueller said. “Years ago, when I first graduated, I thought that it would be awesome to start doing stuff with Seward, to give Seward a brand and stop using that pixilated logo.”
City Administrator Greg Butcher said the idea stemmed from the Rail Campus.
“The Rail Campus committee that meets said, ‘Maybe we should have a logo or some branding that really defines what this is,’” Butcher said. “At that same time, the mayor (Joshua Eickmeier) who is a member of that committee, said, ‘Why don’t we look at the whole of the city?’”
Mueller then met with Eickmeier to get some ideas on what the city wanted.
“He told me his initial thoughts of what it would look like and how it needs to scream Fourth of July City, because that’s our one thing we have so we might as well take advantage of it,” she said.
At first, Mueller said she wasn’t fully on board with the Fourth of July theme.
She quickly changed her mind and got started on some ideas. Mueller said she went through a few ideas before landing on the final design.
“The first concept, as I kind of go over them now, I’m like ‘oh my gosh, what was I thinking?’” Mueller said.
She presented her idea to the council but she said no one seemed excited about the design.
“They encouraged me to go back to the drawing board with their suggestions to see what I could come up with,” she said.
The final idea was presented to the city council on Aug. 6. Mueller was unable to make the meeting but said her parents attended. Mueller’s parents informed her that her logo had passed.
“Getting to pass something through city council I always thought was going to be a challenge, so I was really excited and happy that they approved it,” Mueller said.
Butcher said he does not know the last time the logo had been updated.
“We’ve been using that old one for quite a while. The old one was a good one but I just think it’s that continual transition of updating yourself and putting things out there,” he said.
Mueller’s design elements and colors will be used for the new Rail Campus, as well as downtown Seward and other entities in the city.
“I knew that the logo had to be able to be molded into the different parts of the city,” Mueller said.
She also included slight changes to include different city departments.
“It’s just more of a whole system rather than a logo,” she said, “making sure that it retains the same look and feel when it starts evolving in these different formats.”
Mueller is excited about the new logo and Butcher said she was great to work with.
“(She) had lots of ideas and had been open to critiques and things like that from a good plethora of people,” Butcher said.
Mueller said she will have some ongoing projects, not with just the city but the Seward County Historical Society, as well as some work she’s done for the Seward Welcoming Committee.
“I know that a lot of towns (hire out) - even the state of Nebraska - for their new slogan. The company that did that was in Colorado. Giving people a chance within your own city limits and taking advantage of your talent within the city. I think, is important,” Mueller said.
