being linked with the industry.
Opponents are especially galled by the way many dispensaries have repurposed the iconic C in Colorado’s state flag in their logos and promotional material.
Creative uses of the logo are very common around Colorado. Some images, like wildfire relief and civil unions, work visually to effectively promote local causes. Others are absolute graphic messes, Griffith said.
Hickenlooper’s push for a new brand is largely an effort to regain the state’s brand strategy. He’s a former entrepreneur and one of the fathers of Colorado’s craft beer industry, so he knows marketing. While he only addressed marijuana in a brief comment, it was enough to make his feelings clear.
“The problem is we don’t control (the state flag), and it’s on a lot of things, escort services and marijuana shops, that the state doesn’t want to be identified with,” Hickenlooper said when unveiling the brand.
The new brand is a green and white image of a mountain the resembles Colorado’s license plate, while the slogan is “It’s Our Nature.” The brand and the process to create it have taken a beating in the media and online.
As a graphic designer, Griffith said he likes the logo and thinks it was the best choice of the three finalists. He also noted the logo recalls the logo Hickenlooper used when campaigning for governor.
Griffith understands why the state wanted a brand and wanted to move away from the flag’s iconography and its many reuses.
“It’s not a brand as much as it is a live hack of the flag. We own the flag, therefore we own the attributes of the flag,” Griffith said. “The way the brand is working is different than the way the flag is working as an everyday personal hack.”
Griffith also approved of the process.
“The open and public process that was engaged is this was perfect, it was fantastic. I think it was totally necessary. Being made in Colorado, by Colorado also was very important,” Griffith said.
