Mandaue City officials yesterday presented to local media a new logo for Mandaue City that will be used to market the city to the world.
During a presentation held at a commercial building along A.C. Cortes Street, Mandaue City, lawyer Elaine Bathan, chief of staff of Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel “Luigi” Quisumbing, clarified that the logo doesn’t replace Mandaue City’s official seal.
“The new logo will represent the image of the city in terms of marketing, investments and the direction that the mayor would want for Mandaue,” she told reporters.
In his Facebook account, Mayor Quisumbing said the logo “will be used for for marketing, investment and tourism purposes.”
“We will not be changing the existing seal,” he said.
Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna said the first logo was made in 1969 and was changed during the administration of the late city Mayor Thadeo Ouano.
Fortuna said the new logo needs the approval of the National Historical Commission (NHC), and the City Council will approve an ordinance recognizing the logo.
Isabel Gatuslao, a graphic designer and typographer formerly based in Barcelona, Spain, who’s now based in Singapore created the logo for Mandaue City.
Gatuslao, a family friend of the Quisumbings, was asked by the mayor to create the logo, and he paid for it out of his own pocket, Bathan said.
The logo has been printed on shirts used by Mandaue City government employees during the 49th Charter Day celebration last August 30.
Mandaue City officials also had the logo embroidered on their polo shirts.
In a PowerPoint presentation, Gatuslao explained to reporters that the logo design originated from Mandaue City’s identity which was derived from the Bantayan sa Hari or King’s Watchtower.
She said Mandaue City residents have grown up knowing about the watchtower and its history.
Located near the barangay hall in Barangay Looc, the Bantayan sa Hari is built in the early 1800s.
As its name implied, the structure served to monitor any marauders from the seas.
During the 1600s, Cebu Island was continually harassed by the Moros which necessitated construction of watchtowers.
Gatuslao said the Mandaue City logo is a letter M that holds together and cradles the city’s watchtower.
She said the watchtower is a symbol that commands respect, and the logo design shows strength through its thick strokes but also vulnerability through its thin strokes.
Gatuslao said the watchtower logo seeks to motivate Mandaue City residents into striving towards fulfilling their vision for the city and caring for its future.
In designing the logo, Gatuslao said the Mandaue color palette is a nuanced version of the city’s blue theme.
She said blue is the color of trust, and it anchors the city’s identity and its spirit of self-reliance.
Looked another way, Gatuslao said the Mandaue City logo forms into a silhouette of a community that comes together and cares for their city.
She told reporters that the Mandaue City logo may be used as a graphic element for visual communication, architectural or interior spaces or urban surfaces.