Local Logos

As regular readers know, I love to make mean comments about logos (for instance, here, here, and here), so I appreciated a recent StreetsMN discussion with a "real life graphic designer" about local city logos.

I agreed with most of what the RLGD had to say, with two exceptions:

I like the typeface for Richfield, but they should get rid of everything else. And yes, that is Grimace Purple.

That typeface the RLGD likes is Brush Script. And while I suppose it's approximately era-appropriate to a post-war, inner-ring suburb like Richfield, I don't think it does much to make it look like a place where you'd want to live or do business in 2014.

The RLGD also said:

I have always liked the logo of Apple Valley, though I dislike much about the city itself. It’s a nice, clean logo that looks good large or small, whether it’s in color or B+W, easy-to-read typeface, and it incorporates the apple tree without looking cheesy.

I agree that it's a simple concept (which beats a complicated one any day) and that the red and black is clean and snappy. I think the type (a weirdly modified Arial) is badly drawn and the extra tall Ls, especially in Valley, are unnecessary. Plus, it looks dated to the 1970s. I think this one is due for a reboot. Keep the concept and come up with a better execution.