by Dennis Dalman
Sartell has a new look – that is, a new city logo, a new city tagline and a new city website.
The logo was “unveiled” officially at the Jan. 9 city-council meeting when a huge white sheet of paper was ripped down from the wall, revealing the new logo that was painted on the wall with the large word “Sartell” in blue to the right of the logo.
The new city tagline is this sentence: “It’s not where we live but how we live that matters. Live Sartell.”
The logo was designed by a company called “Gaslight Creative,” and two of its creators (Kelly Cane and Jodie Pundsack) gave some background about the logo at the city-council meeting. It’s all part of a new effort dubbed “Brand Refresh.”
In addition to the new logo, the Sartell city website has also been spiffed up by Gaslight Creative and includes a new video called “Why I Love Sartell,” featuring local people having fun (children playing, bowlers, golfers, athletes) and pausing to sing the praises of Sartell, the city they love.
The city’s logo has not been updated since 1999; the city’s website was last improved upon in 2017.
A survey conducted with Sartell residents in 2021, which revealed how they feel about their city, served as an inspiration for the creators of “Brand Refresh.”
The new logo is somewhat similar to the previous one but more streamlined. It is round, with the words (in blue) “CITY OF SARTELL MINNESOTA” in the outer white space of the circle. In the colorful interior circle is a stylized design that includes a bright sky (yellow-orange) against which is an outline in white of the “old” Sartell bridge that will soon be re-opened for pedestrian use only. Below the bridge is the Mississippi River, symbolized by a band of dark blue, a middle band of purplish-blue and a third band toward the bottom of medium-blue.
Pundsack and Cane described for the council what they strove to evoke in the logo:
The bridge represents “old” Sartell but also a bridge to the future of the city, connecting the past to the future.
The sunny sky is meant to represent Sartell’s positivity, energy and the overall warmth of the city.
The three blue bands of “river” symbolize the “Third Rapids,” as the area was first known by French fur traders. The bottom band, with a slight greenish hue to it, represents the third “rapid” and the riverbank.
The logo’s circle is meant to evoke “community, friendship, unity, inclusivity and growth.”
The new logo will begin to replace the old one during the coming months on vehicle decals, park signs, flags, water towers and elsewhere throughout the city.
The newly designed city website, which debuted on Jan. 10, is much more user-friendly. It includes a place for residents to sign on to receive e-alerts and text alerts, a community calendar and forms that can be filled out online, among many other features, including the new “Why I Love Sartell” video that was shown to the city council members at the Jan. 9 meeting.
After the presentation by the two women, the council expressed hearty approval of the “Brand Refresh” project and thanked the women for their creative work.
