Granite Shoals tourism logo revisited
The Visit Granite Shoals logo, pictured in the center of the city's tourism website, is being overhauled at the request of the City Council. Screenshot image
It’s back to the drawing board for the eight-month-old Granite Shoals tourism logo. City leaders want the image to better represent the lakeside town.
Granite Shoals Marketing Specialist David Frank created the logo in November 2023. The City Council has been wanting to discuss tweaks to it for most of this year and finally put it on the June 11 agenda for open discussion.
During that meeting, council members offered Frank critical feedback, asking him for fresh ideas on how to better showcase Granite Shoals and match its lakeside image. He is now developing a updated logo based on the recommendations and said the city could have a new design soon.
The tourism logo is an extension of the Visit Granite Shoals project, the city’s tentative step toward economic development.
“Visit Granite Shoals is intended as an initial step, if you will, to play the role of a (chamber of commerce) or tourism bureau to help to promote the Airbnbs that exist, since we don’t have hotels, and to help promote the small local businesses, since we don’t have a chamber,” Frank said.
He was hired as Granite Shoals’ full-time marketing specialist in the fall of 2023 at a salary of $41,000 after working as a contractor for the city on and off for several years. Since then, he has developed the tourism logo, created the VisitGraniteShoals.com website, and generated promotional videos and photography for the city.
Several members of the council said they disliked the logo’s blue and orange colors.
Place 1 Councilor Michael Pfister and Place 3 Councilor Judy Salvaggio suggested changing the colors to green and blue, like in the official city logo, which is different than the tourism logo.
Mayor Pro-tem Steve Hougen requested that the hillscape used in the tourism logo resemble Packsaddle Mountain, an iconic peak visible from Lake LBJ.
City Manager Sarah Novo and Place 5 Councilor Michael Berg wanted changes to the logo’s wording. Novo recommended replacing “escape” with “getaway,” and Berg suggested switching “recharge” to “relax.”
The council decided to allow Frank more time to rework the design.
Frank defended his design, stating the orange represented the sunsets and sunrises of Granite Shoals and the blue the city’s greatest asset: Lake LBJ. He also stood by his belief that the logo had to attach Granite Shoals to the Highland Lakes region.
“Basically, what it comes down to is how do we spread our reach?” he asked the council rhetorically. “How do we get more people? The Texas Hill Country and the Highland Lakes are destinations. Granite Shoals is not yet a destination. So, how do we become a destination? We have to marry ourselves to the bigger picture.”