BATH — Bath city officials are looking for a new city logo that better complement s the city flag and retiring its moniker as “Maine’s Cool Little City.”

Lindsey Goudreau, Bath’s marketing and communication specialist, said the new logo will be used on the city’s website, social media accounts, brochures and signs around the city, including the sign on between the northbound and southbound lanes of Leeman Highway, welcoming people to Bath.

The logo can also be used, with permission, by businesses, nonprofits and schools within the city.

The existing logo was created around 2010 by Briggs Advertising, which was based in Bath at the time. The city was also given the tagline “Maine’s Cool Little City,” but it was never widely adopted.

“Coming into 2021, the city’s Economic Development Committee felt it was time to revisit the logo, and the ‘Maine’s Cool Little City’ tagline, which, we felt, just hasn’t stuck,” said Goudreau. “We hope that the new logo complement s the city flag and has a more progressive, friendly look while still referencing the city’s iconic maritime history.”

Goudreau said the city will spend up to $5,000 to cover the cost of the design of the refreshed logo and branding elements, including colors and fonts. That money is budgeted for, funded by tax revenue from Bath Iron Work’s shipyard on Washington Street.

The $5,000 will not cover the cost of replacing signs or other media that bear the existing logo. Goudreau said she doesn’t yet know how much replacing those items will cost.

While the new logo will be widely used, it will not replace the city’s seal, which is stamped on legal documents, or the city flag.

Although a logo isn’t essential to a city’s success, a logo makes a city unique and recognizable much like a good brand logo increases a company’s brand value, said Sally Johnstone, president of the economic development group Main Street Bath.

“The brand value of Bath is wanting to live here or shop here or open a business here,” said Johnstone. “We want to clean up our logo, modernize it and make it recognizable.”

The existing oval logo features a simple blue and white color palette and depicts waves and a six-masted ship. The waves represent the Kennebec River where Bath is perched and the ship is a nod to the Wyoming, the largest wooden schooner built in the U.S., according to the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. The Wyoming was built in 1909 at the Percy and Small shipyard, where the Maine Maritime Museum now sits on Washington Street.

The city requested the new logo use colors that match the city flag and maintain certain elements that honor Bath’s history. Much like the existing logo, the red, yellow, white and blue flag, created in 2013 by Jeremy Hammond, depicts waves and a ship.

Goudreau said the city had received eight logo submissions as of Tuesday.

Mari Esoco, former Bath councilor, was on the committee that chose the existing logo and said she thinks the existing logo looks “timeless,” but understands it’s time for it to be updated. Like Goudreau and Johnstone, Eosco said she hopes the new logo will echo the city’s shipbuilding roots, as previous logos have.

“I think we’ll forever be known as the city of ships,” she said. “That’s who we are and Bath has done a very good job of celebrating our shipbuilding heritage. That’s what we’re known for and will continue to be known for.”

Briggs Advertising did not return requests for comment Wednesday.

Proposals must be submitted by Monday, Feb. 22 at 11:59 p.m. to be considered. Submissions can be sent to Goudreau at lgoudreau@cityofbath.com.

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