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Developing: Community Research Council Adopting New Name

Author: John Hawbaker
Filed Under: Business, Chattanooga Economy, Featured
Published: July 7th, 2008

Chattarati has received word through an anonymous source that the Community Research Council is poised to adopt a new name: The Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies. The organization’s new logo, pictured above, is said to be the work of the Maycreate Idea Group.

The board of the public policy research group is practically a who’s who of Chattanooga business world, and the change reportedly had to be approved by local matriarch and former Chattanooga Times publisher (and Adolph Ochs’ granddaughter) Ruth Holmberg. According to our source, the newly minted Ochs Center may also be expanding its reach by offering its services to other cities and organizations around the country.

We’ll bring you more details as this story develops…

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Comments
  • Can't say this is a surprise - rumors of a name change for the last few months. Great logo design, though and way to scoop the story.
  • I like the logo. Simple, modern, and catchy. I've always been a fan of Maycreate's work.
  • Larry
    It's barely legible. Any smaller and it'd be unreadable. It should be just "The Ochs Center", which is a pretty great name, I'm guessing named after Adolph Ochs. Did they have to get permission to use his name? Does Ochs have some connection to the Research Council?
  • Wait, the entire skyline is in the logo? Really? Agreed with Larry too - The Ochs Center should be the name -- or at least the name they use even if the full name is "The Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies."
  • Teletha
    The Ochs Center alone wouldn't let people know what it is. I think it aptly describes who they are and what they do and has a fantastic, yet subtle, Chattanooga connection with the skyline and the Ochs name.
  • Larry
    What's subtle about it?

    Also, what's that block of grey in the bottom left? Can I scratch it with a penny to see if I've won something?
  • josiahq
    I love "The Ochs Center" as a name. There needs to be more in Chattanooga that memorializes one of our great Civic Ancestors than just a road or two on Lookout Mountain, and the Research Council is a great way to do that for Adolph Ochs.

    I don't think it needs to spell everything out in the name & logo. If your marketing & communications are solid, they do the work for you. You don't see Apple, Dell, MacDonalds, or any other great brand saying things like "Apple, a company that makes computers & ipods & other electronic stuff including software". I'm sure the unnecessarily wordy name is more a product of Board dynamics than anything.
  • David Morton
    Chattanooga Non-Profit Branding = Every trustee has to add his/her own familial touch in a 100-year old "No, I am the power structure" feud.
  • Tyrick
    I can barely even read the logo on this site. How is it going to be able to transfer to other materials? Haven't we seen enough things with the Chattanooga skyline?
  • Skyline looks very similar to the one used on UTC's "Metro Campus" TV show. You can see a clip here: http://www.utc.edu/Administration/UTC-TV/
  • Steve West
    A nice logo by May Create with what I'm sure were a number of hands "leading" the design of the designer. Like any designer I could add tweaks to it but will say that the 3rd line for the organization's mission is too much. But like I said, I'm sure the design had leadership from outside May Create.
  • Sorry Joe...since I'm not a resident of Chattanooga anymore, all I can really comment on is the logo. Even at this relatively decent size, it's almost illegible. But having done logo design myself, I fully expect that this was not the designer's first choice either. Everyone has said the same things and I agree with them: The name is too long. Just too much text. It's superfluous. Oh well. Sounds like a decent organization though! Wish I could come back out there sometime.
  • mark mcknight
    Yeah that is really a shame- but hey, put the good ones on the shelf and maybe one day one of them will see the light of day.
  • Knowing some of the board members, it doesn't surprise me that they had a hand in guiding the direction of the logo. I am sure at least one of them fancies him/herself as a creative soul and asked for something that "uniquely represented the spirit of our city...perhaps something as unique as our very own skyline."

    The point is that the logo, despite the outside assistance, is elegant and I believe reflects well on the organization and the artist. Remember, we are mostly creative types and our opinions will differ greatly from the opinions of the people this organization serves.

    Its easy to be a Howard Roark type when you arent getting paid. But MayCreate is in the BUSINESS of design and they succeeded in pleasing their client and providing a logo they can be proud of.
  • T
    Apparently I've been in the nonprofit world way too long :)
  • I'm not a designer (although I play one on a late night cable show - to bad Mark will never see it) but common sense says this logo would be a nightmare to embroider on a shirt! More proof that it's best to leave this type of stuff to the professionals.
  • @JonMoss: Oh I could put it on a shirt...wouldn't be my first choice, but it'd get done - and look good. :)
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