With the creation of a new super district council for East Suffolk and the formal dissolution of Suffolk Coastal and Waveney now exactly 200 days away, a brand identity and logo for the new authority has been formally approved and is now revealed today.

Developed by local design agency, Spring from Southwold, the councils have agreed on a fresh, bold and contemporary identity combining elements that reflect the geography and location of the council which will begin operations on April 1 2019.

The image presents the idea of a compass point facing east while also incorporating four colours which embody who and where we are – two shades of blue for the sky and the sea, green for land and yellow for both the beach and the sun.

A ‘member working group’ comprising councillors from the spectrum of political parties across the two councils worked with officers to develop ideas, also considering elements of entries in a public competition and the thoughts of council staff who were asked for their opinions during the development process.

Considerable thought was given not just simply to how the logo looks but also how it will be used in a range of different settings; public signs of varying sizes - from buildings to refuse bins - council vehicles, letters and social media icons. It was agreed that the new identity should be clean, unfussy, dynamic and a bold assertion of who we are.

Cllrs Ray Herring and Mark Bee, Leaders of Suffolk Coastal and Waveney are delighted with the finished product and believe it is a strong look for a new and forward-looking local authority. They said: “A new logo and brand identity is not necessarily one of the most important tasks we face when creating a brand new council to deliver important services for local people. Naturally, our primary focus is on investing in our communities and building a 21st century organisation which meets demands and improves outcomes for everyone in east Suffolk.

“However the two existing councils currently have two separate and very different visual identities and creating one new, single ‘look’ is essential to ensure our customers and communities understand what has changed and why. With this in mind we took advice from the design agency about the strength of simplicity in logo design while also seeking to represent who and where we are in a single image. We are really pleased with the end product and it will of course be implemented properly once the new council begins operations on April 1."

Spring’s co-founder, Erika Clegg, expresses the agency’s delight in the work. “When I launched Spring twelve years ago, part of my vision for the agency was to bring the value of the extensive regeneration and place-making experience I’d gathered in London to this part of Britain. How lovely, then, to have seen the Spring team deploy their skills in support of this new organisation. Brand is not just about design, it’s about clarity of purpose and ease of communication, and the fact this has been taken so seriously by the new council bodes well for the future in East Suffolk.”

Cllr TJ Haworth-Culf, Chair of the Member Working Group for Communications and Branding also explained that a huge amount of work will now be going in to this implementation and that the whole process is more than simply creating a new badge. She said: “We asked Spring to take a holistic approach so not only have they designed the new brand, they are also providing clear guidance and support regarding how it is used to forge a strong identity for the council both locally, but also on the national stage where other councils have watched our ground-breaking and innovative merger with great interest.

“We have also been working hard to ensure that all signs across the two current council areas are replaced and this will of course be achieved as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible. Vehicles will need to be changed and even the letters we send out. We set a budget for the work to create a new brand identity, we are pleased to have come in under that and while we fully understand that design can create a full range of different opinions we are very pleased that we have achieved exactly what we set out to do.”