Amityville, after scrapping its logo campaign, decides to brand itself

Amityville is ready to be branded. But getting here wasn't easy. 

After spending months coming up with possible new logos for the village, officials have scrapped all of them and unveiled two entirely new images that will be used as part of the rebranding. 

The journey started at a Village Hall event in November, where Amityville revealed four possible icons and lettering for logos to be placed on village vehicles, roadway signs and even merchandise such as water bottles. 

During the announcement of the images — which included a sailboat, a tree and a nautical flag — the village surveyed dozens of residents in attendance to get feedback, then launched an online survey to gauge public opinion. Mayor Michael O’Neill said about 100 to 150 people offered their thoughts, or around 1% of the village’s total population.

But the message of those who responded was unified and clear, he said: They didn’t like any of the images.

“There was little appetite for any of them,” O’Neill said. “It’s a process, so the fact that the first iterations were not well-received is OK. You need to start somewhere and you can’t have a 200-person discussion on where to go, or else nothing gets accomplished.”

'The Friendly Bay Village'

The branding and way-finding is part of a downtown rehab effort funded with $10 million from the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative.

O’Neill said the feedback both online and in person revealed an attachment to the bayfront nature of the village, as well as the Triangle Building and gazebo, both in the heart of the downtown. 

So Emphas!s Design in Manhattan, which was hired to create the images, came up with two new designs using the colors green and cream: one with a sailboat image and the words “The Friendly Bay Village”; the other with an image of the top of the village’s centerpiece Triangle Building and the words “Historic District.”

The sailboat branding will be the village’s “umbrella” logo and will be on display upon entering the village and in municipal areas such as parks, O’Neill said. The building logo will be more common downtown, to direct people to parking or to historic areas, he said.

“You will be able to look at these both and know that they represent the Village of Amityville,” he said.

Mixed reviews

Resident Adam Eury, 56, said he’s not a fan of the new logos.

“I think they look generic,” he said. “To me they’re too plain, they don’t really pop.”

Eury said he preferred the initial logos presented and that the ones chosen won't attract people to the downtown.

“It’s not going to draw anyone from outside of Amityville to come into Amityville,” he said. “If you want to make the village vibrant, you have to draw people from outside, like in Farmingdale or Bay Shore or Patchogue.”

Eury also questioned the village choosing designs based off the opinions of “such a small pool.”

Bay Village Civic Association president Joan Donnison said she has heard only positive comments on the logos.

“Everybody who I’ve spoken to felt that this is who we are, this is our character,” she said. “I think everybody, we took a deep breath when we saw it and said ‘Yes, they got it.’”

The village is paying Emphas!s $75,000 for the branding portion, with another $241,000 in state funding going toward other parts of the effort, including the creation of signs, O’Neill previously told Newsday.

Tweaks are being made and sign locations are being discussed, he said. The DRI grant will cover the cost of signs in the downtown, while those in other locations will be funded through the village coffers or other grant money, he said.

The new imagery should start popping up around the village in a few months, O’Neill said.