I agree with Creative Notice, I live in Kilgore and have for the past 14 years. As a young professional, I have noticed when city officials take certain "shortcuts" the product does look shortchanged. I would highly advise Mayor Parker we are not a small community but rather marketable entity that needs to have the most polished image that will be around for many years, and taking the cheap route is not always better

I just read your story and I would be honored to be given the chance to submit a logo. I grew up in Kilgore for the better part of 18 years and my family still resides here. After graduating from KHS, I attended UNT and received my Bachelor's in Fine Art. I worked for a year as a graphic designer before returning to school to complete my Master of Art and Master of Fine Art. In between school work, I continued to work as a freelance designer. I currently teach computer graphics at several schools in the DFW area. I am giving you all of this information to drive home the fact that you won't be receiving an amateur design - I have worked in this industry for quite some time and I am confident that I will be able to create something great. Please contact me for more information. Oh, and I would absolutely volunteer my time to complete this project.

In the graphic design community holding contests for graphic design is frowned upon. The reason being the final result is rarely up to par with what you would obtain working with a professional from the start. Consider this, anyone can tell a great design from an OK design, even if we can't verbalize what particular aspects make a design great. You do this subconciously when picking products or stores to shop at. The human mind loves symmetry, white-space, proportion and lines. It's why we see constellations in a field of stars and crooked picture frames annoy us. Professional artists not only know this, but they know how to facilitate it in designing a piece. Do you really want the leading promotional piece for your city to be OK? What does that tell businesses looking to come set up shop in your area, or new families looking to move into your school districts? It says, cheap, lack of vision, no understanding of how business is done. I'm from small(er) town Texas as well, and the one thing I know for certain is local officials are anything but lacking vision. On the contrary, local political / community leaders have great vision, they are after all very connected to their constituency. They also understand business well, being business owners and professionals. But I've also seen that these same dedicated folks sometimes take the perceived shortest route on things like artwork, advertising and logos because it seams trivial compared to other pressing matters. Sorry for writing a tome, but I hope you see where I'm going with this. That small "trivial" logo in fact speaks volumes about your township and how you do business. Don't limit yourselves. If you are a city official and would like recommendations for professional graphic designers, I've worked with several and would be happy to pass on their contact info.