Traverse City's iconic logo is instantly recognizable across the city. It adorns the side of plows and trucks around town, is splashed across the city’s website, and is prominently displayed on city envelopes and letterhead. Yet few people know about the logo's history, how it came about or who is responsible for it. Where did it come from? And what is it, really?

According to City Clerk Benjamin Marentette, the city decided in 1981 it would behoove Traverse City to have its own logo. Years before “branding” became a buzzword, city commissioners recognized that creating a logo – an image to attach to Traverse City – would be beneficial. “We wanted something new other than the yellow color and the name,” recalls Carol Hale, who was then a member of the city commission.

Hale and her fellow city commissioners decided to hold a contest and solicit entries from anyone interested. There weren’t many rules. Hale says the commission wanted to make sure the logo didn’t conflict with that of the National Cherry Festival, but other than that, the contest was wide open.

Enter Tim Nielsen. The graphic designer had recently relocated from Toronto to Traverse City. “I had just moved here and formed a company with a partner,” Nielsen says. “I’d been doing graphic design and corporate identity work.” Nielsen's experience was tailored toward corporate clients, which put him in new territory for a “try it and see if it works” design contest.

“Typically I would never enter a competition," says Nielsen. "A competition is not really a good way to create a logo."

Still, Nielsen and his then-partner Mike Ferro decided to take the leap. “We decided it was here, we’ll do the best job we can,” says Nielsen. The partners conferred on the logo and the approach, looking to connect the design to the area. “We agreed (on) nature and people,” Nielsen says. Nielsen created several designs before he and Ferro settled on the final version, an image including stylized people and waves to represent the region's ubiquitous waters.

Marentette says Hale and another city commission member acted as a jury for the selection. They ultimately chose Nielsen’s design, earning Nielsen and Ferro the princely sum of $150. “We didn’t want to put in a lot of time and energy for (a possible) $150,” says Nielsen with a laugh. “But we did.”

While happy with the selection, Hale says the response wasn’t unanimously positive. She heard from people who suggested it looked like three people drowning. Today, she feels it was a good choice. “It’s easily recognizable,” says Hale. “It’s stood the test of time.”

For his part, Nielsen recalls that another designer from town suggested they had copied it from another source, which he denied. That kept the logo in the news for a while, he says.

Marentette says there has never been any attempt to modify or replace the logo. “There isn’t a lot of comment on it. In the past several years I’ve heard from folks who enjoy it. I’ve heard from a few people that some aren’t crazy about it,” he says.

You could even include Nielsen in the latter group. “I was never really that happy with it,” he admits. “It was a short timeframe. We broke every rule we had established for ourselves.”