When I first arrived in Auburn Hills as an employee in 2001, our somewhat “unofficial” logo was a picture of City Hall.  Most professionals in the branding industry advise against using a building as a logo, mainly because buildings can be modified, torn down, or the entity can move out of it.  

Prior to the City celebrating its 25^th anniversary in 2008, City leaders decided to agree upon a more “official” logo design.  That design was a take-off of the silo that exists on the main municipal campus.  Instead of showing the silo with white wooden siding as it exists on our campus, we used a version that covered it in fieldstone, an architectural theme used throughout the community.  That logo was used since 2008 on city vehicles, letterhead, business cards, entry signs, etc.  The silo was always met with mixed reactions.  Since Auburn Hills is a diverse community of advanced manufacturing, R & D, retail, entertainment, residential, and education; the silo didn’t seem to represent any of that, but rather a suggestion that perhaps we are an agricultural community.  We are certainly far from being an agricultural community. 

So for the last year, a group of business and community leaders, along with key staff from the City, worked together to develop a new logo that more closely reflects the Auburn Hills of today.  Two concepts came together nicely to create the newly adopted logo.  The first is the idea of a connected community.  In fact, we have also adopted the tagline of “Connecting you to . . . now”.  The second concept acknowledges what has become a significant landmark in the center of the City; the new diverging diamond interchange at University Drive and I-75, with its impressive and attractive bridge.  Together, these concepts culminated into what has now been adopted as the new logo of the City of Auburn Hills.  The design is simple and clean, and the colors of charcoal gray and auburn (as if the auburn color was not intentional) work well together for everything on which the logo will be applied. 

There’s no doubt that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  If your first reaction lacks enthusiasm, we hope you’ll give it a chance to grow on you.  In the weeks and months ahead, you will begin to see the new logo roll out in various places, including City vehicles, billboards along I-75, on our website, business cards, envelopes, and letterhead, and eventually on the entrance signs to the City.  But first, we’ll use up the items we have with the old logo and let nothing go to waste. 

Tom Tanghe, City Manager