An Artful Change in Town Center

 

Did you know that’s Columbia’s Town Center has a new logo?

Photo Kerry G. Johnson

The Town Center Community Association Board of Directors is pleased to announce the winner of the Logo Contest that ended in late December. Mr. Kerry G. Johnson's entry was voted on by residents and selected as the winner across many excellent entrants.

Mr. Johnson is a resident of Howard County and is proud to have had his first home on Ring Dove Lane right in Town Center. (Town Center Facebook page)

I like it. I especially like this explanatory description shared by the artist:

I designed the contemporary logo to subtly showcase the metropolitan and suburban character of the Tower Center community of Columbia. The multicolored graphic tree symbolizes the broad and diverse people that live, work, shop, or visit the Tower Center. If you closely review the solid and sturdy tree "person," it's supporting a foundation that's holding up the residents and businesses of the Town Center Community Association. 

Kerry G. Johnson is a professional artist who lives in Columbia. From his website:

Kerry is an award-winning illustrator and art director whose work has been published in numerous newspapers, magazines, books and websites. He has illustrated several children's books along with a unique line of multicultural greeting cards. Kerry is a hands-on creative director with the vision to inspire, collaborate, and execute fun and illustrative solutions.

As I took a look around Mr. Johnson’s website, I thought about how many times students are steered away from studies and careers in the arts. 

“What are you going to do with that?”

“You’ll never make a living doing that.”

Johnson uses his artistic gifts and training to make connections in numerous ways: book illustrations, greeting cards, caricature events, school visits, digital artwork, teaching, and, of course logos and rebranding. As I scrolled through his Twitter feed I got a sense of someone who is always learning and finding new ways to connect his art with the world. 

Examining this topic made me wonder about all the other logos of the Columbia Villages in use today. I believe that some of the older Villages have updated/transformed or outright changed those images. Most of us are well aware of the iconic artwork featuring Columbia’s neighborhoods created by Gail Holliday in Columbia’s early years, many of which are now on display on the far side of Lake Kittamaqundi. 

They are beautiful. I love them. But it’s also true that each village has the responsibility of keeping their public branding image both recognizable and current in today’s world.

I’d love to do a post solely on the old and the new of all the Columbia Village logos. Now that I’m thinking of it which of the images below, if any, was the previous Town Center logo?*

In the meantime, congratulations to both Town Center and Mr. Johnson for a successful collaboration and a happy and prolonged life for their new image. 

You can find Kerry G. Johnson on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and on his website.

You can learn more about Town Center here.

*Those of you who have lived here longer than I are probably shaking your heads at me. I’d be sincerely grateful if you could share your wisdom on this.