A few months ago, the Route 66: The Road Ahead Initiative asked people to send ideas for a new name and logo for the group.
The initiative wanted “an easy to remember name and a quickly recognizable logo that reflected the mission of the Road Ahead Initiative and which could assist in efforts to market, promote, and establish a brand for this new organization,” according to Bill Thomas, chairman of the group’s steering committee.
According to a news release from Thomas over the weekend, the initiative received 11 submissions and narrowed them to three that found most favor from the steering committee.
However, the committee was unable to come to a consensus on the winner.
Thomas said in an email the submitted logos instead “will be used to help inspire the creation of a new, final name and logo.” Thomas said a professional firm will be asked to create a logo from different elements of the finalists’ submissions.
Here are the three finalists. First is this entry from Dustin Hall of Lebanon, Missouri:
Next is Greg Payne of Arizona:
The last one is Robert Gehl of Wildwood, Missouri:
Thomas extended congratulations and appreciations to the three finalists.
I liked Hall’s design the best. What did you think?
(Images courtesy of Bill Thomas)
I like Robert Gehl’s best. The first one has mixed upper and lower case letters !
Don’t know about any of the designs but I favor “let’s roll 66”
Das Erste von Dustin Hall drückt alles aus. Nur die Farben sollten ausschließlich schwarz und weiss sein. The first of Dustin Hall is good and is saying enough. But colours should be black and white only. Thanks Ingo
Yes, I agree. I like Hall’s. I like the colors.
Hall’s colors may be likable but they’re associated with interstate shields rather than US highway signs and that font’s pretty strange. All three seem “close but not quite”. Gehl’s would get my vote (if I had a vote) but I’d like it better with “Initiative” (a name I always thought fitting) instead of “AmericA”.
Hall’s has advantage of color which makes it stand out more nicely. But I love the snappiness of Gehr’s slogan “66 let’s roll!”.
I like Halls but should be black & white.
Gehl’s gets mine as well without the capital A on America. The first one’s not bad but the colors make it look ordinary like the previous poster mentioned.
Frankly, I’m at a loss as to why they can’t make a decision and declare a winner without having to use the services of a professional firm. This was the point of the contest, for people to create an original, recognizable and memorable design for the purpose of “branding.” At least 11 people worked hard on their creative ideas and the three final designs fit the bill to a “T.” My own personal favorite is Mr. Gehl’s design simply because I’m crazy about those old ’40s and ’50s fonts, but any of these designs could be a winner. Keep with the spirit of the contest and leave “pros” out of it. That’s just my take.
I like Let’s Roll.. pretty much sums it up.
Why leave this to pros? Wasn’t the point to allow people to be a part? Now it’s “thanks for the inspiration?” Pick your winner.
Gregg Paynes .. The best !! ❤️
After a few years this popped back in my head. I designed the first design. I originally submitted a description of why I chose which elements. Here is some of the reasoning:
I chose color because there are neon signs along the route where the shield is the red/blue. I originally sited the exact sign that inspired the choice. Yes, it does resemble an Interstate sign, and I contemplated if it was the right call to go color. In the end I felt it was true enough to the Road, and red/white/blue for America. I know a few on here questioned the choice, and it is a fair question because I questioned it when designing it.
8 Stars for every state the Road traverses.
The background of the oval is tire tracks.
Looking back on the logo the one thing I would change is the font. I can only shake my head at the poor font choice. The name I felt fit what they were wanting to achieve.
I was disappointed to learn they were not picking a winner, and that they were going to try and get a design firm. I couldn’t help but think I am a professional designer. My thoughts were they should pick one then work with that designer to finish and polish off any details. I truly expected them to do that when I entered the contest.
Although it disappointed me I was hopeful that they were going to acquire the perfect logo even if it wasn’t mine because I wanted the Initiative to succeed above all else. The biggest disappointment is that it seems like they chose to do nothing some three and a half years later. I’m sure one could take the inspiration of any of the logos here and clean them up to be great.