The New Look of South Milwaukee

We are reinventing ourselves in South Milwaukee.

We are at a crossroads, and while we certainly face our share of challenges, I remain as excited as ever about our potential as a city, and committed to doing all we can to shape our promising future, while embracing our proud past.

It starts with telling our heritage story, which I’m happy to see coming to life through the work to open a South Milwaukee Industrial Museum honoring the history of Bucyrus and the effort to build a statue honoring our most famous son, Da Crusher.

Our future is bright, too, as we ramp up work on downtown and city redevelopment, work harder than ever to attract and retain small businesses, and make significant investments in our infrastructure. We’re also innovating in how we do business, always exploring new and more efficient ways to deliver our city services and how we function as a government.

That is the foundation we are building upon with our new city brand.

It officially launches today.

We partnered with Savage Solutions on this project, the same firm behind the rebranding of Oak Creek, downtown Waukesha and West Allis. After focus groups with dozens of local residents and business owners, and the work of a smaller steering committee inside City Hall, we emerged with an iconic design.

We have a lot to be proud of in South Milwaukee, but nothing defines us like Grant Park, which makes Seven Bridges the perfect choice to visually represent who we are, and where we are headed. Add in the “Rocket red” color, typography, and purposeful word choice — including a decision to not go with an official slogan — and we have a logo that is uniquely South Milwaukee.

Now the fun begins: Showing off this new mark. You’ve probably already seen the City Hall flag and sign, and those are just the start.

Welcome signage, Milwaukee Avenue street banners, digital activations (including our soon-to-be launched city app), marketing pieces, wearables (we gave away 1,000 logoed t-shirts following the high school graduation ceremony), and much more, with many of the pieces being made by local vendors … you will see our new logo come to life in a number of ways this summer and beyond.

You will also see us at a number of events throughout 2018, including the South Milwaukee Downtown Market on June 14 and 21, Heritage Week, and more.

Now is the right time to launch our new brand, and I can’t wait to get started. We have lots of work to do, and we’re doing it. Together.