Newsberg might look a little different from this week going forward.
We’re happy to present Newsberg’s official logo, colors, and font!
Newsberg started in April 2023 because See See Coffee Co. closed unexpectedly and I couldn’t find out why. I sent a tip to our local newspaper so they could put their resources toward the task, but I didn’t hear anything back. So, I decided to dust off my journalism resume/degree and put my on my reporter hat.
I quickly pulled a logo together on Canva using their preloaded art, whipped a website together on WordPress, and started publishing.
That first story led to another, and then another, and then an events calendar, all the while posting to Instagram. This little community news outlet has grown to be a top resource in the area for news and events for people who want to know more about what’s actually going on instead of the politics.
I wanted to build a brand that supports that mission with a unique look and feel. I enlisted the help of local graphic artist Made by Meryl to pull together a complete brand overhaul that we can use to share the brand far and wide.
The New Newsberg Brand
The goal, outside of creating a unique brand identity for Newsberg, was to create something that represents the fun side of Newberg that’s often overlooked these days. I wanted something playful, exciting, and sweet while approachable. The traditional journalism side of me kept creeping toward something professional with an aggressive serif font. But hey, we’re new media — let’s try something new.
Newberg being the Camellia City, I wanted to keep the camellia as our logo. I thought about leaning toward grapes, but realized I didn’t want to be confused with a wine industry publication. The last camellia was a tight spiral of lined petals that felt appropriate with the thin-lined font. To introduce a bit more playfulness, we went with an open petal flower that I see on so many bushes and trees around Newberg on a spring day.
We kept the magenta (while removing some of the vibrancy), white, black, and grey, but added a tea green as a contrast color to provide a bit more depth and happiness to the palette. You’ll largely see this difference on the Instagram posts and the newsletter.
Lastly, we opened up the fonts a ton. I found the most straightforward fonts for the first go, leaning toward traditionalism. However, we’re not traditional here at Newsberg, and our brand should reflect that. I went with a more hand-drawn looking font that accented the camellia and didn’t look out of place when they’re next to each other. And then, for the secondary font, I went with a typewriter-style font because that feels very classic journalism. And boy do I miss smashing the keys at my grandma’s house.
What Else is Going On in Newsberg Land?
We’ve just started rolling out our first advertisers! You may have seen Uflora’s ad placement on our Instagram posts and newsletter. There are a few more in the works — stay tuned!
We just finished up our analyzing the data from our audience survey. To everyone who filled that out, THANK YOU! So much incredible data that will help me serve this community better.
Right now, we’re really relying on community contributions to keep this thing running while we get our advertising engine up and running. You can subscribe for as little as $5 per month, or offer one-time contributions. Each and every dollar helps to cover costs of technology I need to use to deliver the news — not to mention my time researching, reporting, and distributing stories.
Lastly, in the reader survey, many of you said you’d be interested in sporting some Newsberg merch! I’m working with a local supplier to develop the classic shopping tote, some shirts, and maybe hats? Of course, we’ll get some stickers rolling as well.
In short, there is a ton of fun stuff on the way, and that’s all because of you and your support. Keep spreading the good word, make sure you’re telling your friends about Newsberg and our weekly newsletter (as well as our Instagram and new Threads), and support if you can.
See you out there,
-Branden Andersen
Founder, Newsberg Media
