'In desperate need of an update': City of Sarasota plans to revamp its seal and logo

By Anne Snabes, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published November 23, 2021

The city of Sarasota is moving forward with a plan to update its logo and seal. 

On Nov. 15, the City Commission approved a $25,000 contract with Sarasota-based company DreamLarge for design services.  

DreamLarge, a business that provides marketing help and other services to nonprofits, plans to refresh the city logo. The company will also run a community initiative that will result in a design competition, in which the public can submit potential designs for the seal.  

The current seal depicts a fish and other objects, along with the words “May Sarasota Prosper” and the year the municipality was incorporated, 1902. 

Background:Is it time for Sarasota to have a new logo and seal? City commissioners think so

“I think our seal is just in desperate need of an update,” Commissioner Hagen Brody said.  

Brody also wants to update the city logo, as he believes Sarasota is “such a different city” than it was in the 1980s, when the current logo was created. The logo depicts Michelangelo's David, a replica of which stands at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. 

Mayor Erik Arroyo also said he isn’t attached to the David design of the city logo.  

“When people think of Sarasota, they don’t just think of the Ringling Museum anymore,” Arroyo said. “There’s so much more here. I would argue that the bridge – the Ringling Bridge – is more iconic to the city of Sarasota than the Ringling Museum.” 

Commissioner Kyle Battie would like the seal and logo to represent the city’s diversity. He noted that Arroyo is the city’s youngest ever mayor and is also an immigrant. Battie also noted that African Americans hold leadership positions in the city, including himself.  

“I think the city is kind of working in that order and in that direction, in terms of where we are,” he said, adding the city is trying to become more progressive, diverse and ambitious.

To read the full Herald-Tribune article click here.