Sylvan Lake:
Brilliant all Year
CLIENT
Town of Sylvan Lake
Sylvan Lake, AB
BACKGROUND
Looking to facilitate business opportunities and encourage professionals to locate in the Town, Sylvan Lake needed a brand that said more than tourist destination. Sylvan Lake is a relaxed lakeside community in Alberta, equidistant from Calgary and Edmonton. The goals for the rebrand were to: position the Town as an ideal year-round location for business and tourism in Central Alberta; stimulate economic growth through diversification and connecting neighbourhoods; and inspire pride and promote community involvement among residents and businesses.
Place branding is about finding the authentic voice of the future
Our work in place branding aims to bring the representation of a place closer to what stakeholders aspire for it to be. We facilitated two workshops in Sylvan Lake aimed at understanding the views of residents, businesses and employees around the future of the Town. The participants represented all of these groups, working together. The exercises included work on semantics and storytelling as tools to help participants express what they hoped to see. Out of this work, came the words that the stakeholders wanted the new brand to represent. These formed the brand essence: Fun, Confident, Charming, Warm and Relaxed.
Drawing inspiration from Sylvan Lake’s beloved iconic lighthouse, the logo makes reference to the Town’s history while reflecting the modernity in its new growth and dynamic population. Paired with a slab serif, the logo provides a sense of timeless charm with a contemporary feel. Most importantly, this new brand identity reflects the Sylvan Lake that residents want their town to feel like as it grows.
