![[ Flag of Rotorua District Council ]](../images/n/nz-rot0.gif)
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by António Martins-Tuválkin, 23 April 2016
Last modified: 2016-05-19 by ian macdonald
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by António Martins-Tuválkin, 23 April 2016
In 2000, I visited the municipality of Rotorua, New Zealand. A great town
with an amazing flag. The flag was black with a stylized white R that was
roughly the size of the entire rectangle. I've been searching unsuccessfully
for an image of it for quite some time, so I contacted the city's tourism
office.
Kaye Clarke (Managing Director Stay and Play – New Zealand
Tourism Connections) was very helpful in her response.
"We were looking
to modernise the council logo for our letterheads from the City Coat-of-Arms,
the farmer and the Maori, with Tatau Tatau (we together) underneath it being
used at the time, which some officers in council, felt it was dated for
letterhead use. We called for ideas from graphic artists and the stylised R
was the one we chose, as the R simply stood for Rotorua and the rings going
out from it, represented the rings you see going out from boiling mud, which
is synonymous with Rotorua. So it was quite simple and readily accepted." —
former mayor Grahame Hall.
They attached a jpg of the letterhead logo.
If you remove the text "Rotorua District Council" and extend the R portion
from square to rectangle, you have the flag of the town. It's really quite
something, but it's been 14 years since I saw that flag.
Alex Garofolo,
13 January 2015
I was surprised to fail to find this fairly recent logo in web image searches
for Rotorua emblematics. Instead, a very different emblem, with a spiral design,
shows consistently associated with the Rotorua District Council, some of its
offshoots, and other local entities. Even more curiously, though, there is no
conspicuous logo in the official website, nor the spiral, nor the "R" (http://www.rdc.govt.nz/).
António Martins-Tuválkin, 23 April 2016
![[ Flag of Rotorua District Council ]](../images/n/nz-rotor.jpg)
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by Alex Garofolo, 13 January 2015
![[ Flag of Rotorua District Council ]](../images/n/nz-rot!1.gif)
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by António Martins-Tuválkin, 23 April 2016
An abandoned test version of a Rotorua District Council website that makes
wide use of a spiral logo:
http://66.7.200.218/~livework. See especially
http://66.7.200.218/~livework/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/RDC-Logo-full-colour.jpg
and
http://66.7.200.218/~livework/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/feel-the-spirit-STACK-blue-green-300x296.jpg.
This logo and variants of the same lettering and slogans also hosted and
used in 3rd party websites:
-
http://international.activecm.net/AssetFactory.aspx?did=32096
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http://www.at94.co.nz/images/rotoruanz_logo_med.gif
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http://www.scionresearch.com/__data/assets/image/0020/38360/Rotorua-logo-blue-text-web.JPG
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http://www.thebigidea.nz/
Along with the spiral logo, the English
slogan "feel the spirit", and the Maori motto "manaakitanga",
meaning
"hospitality".
These are often found in this especially
flag-like arrangement, in white, light
green, and darkest blue.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 23 April
2016
From the report
http://www.rdc.govt.nz/AgendasAndMinutes/Council/2014/Agenda%20Council%20meeting%2027%20November%202014.pdf
recommending council's latest "brand refresh", adopted on 27 November 2014, we
learn that the logo with spiral design, the Takarangi, substituted for
the second 'o' of Rotorua was adopted 17-18 years earlier by the 'Feel the
spirit' community brand, and so was used alongside the 'R' council logo reported
by Alex.
Then, around 2004-5, council replaced the logo with one using
the 'ROTORUA' with Takarangi 'O' and colours from the community logo. The
council logo didn't include the 'feel the spirit' motto, but instead had the
word 'DESTINATION' and a curved line above the 'Rotorua', with the words
'ROTORUA DISTRICT // COUNCIL" on dark background below. A white on black version
of this logo appeared on the council website by 9 September 2005. In 2012, the
tagline 'Shaping Rotorua' was added to the left of the council logo, in white in
two lines on a blue background, with the Takarangi before Rotorua.
The
Takarangi was designed by artist and carver Lionel Grant, and associated with
the "Rotorua's core qualities": the people, the vibrant Maori culture, the
historical standing as a bicultural district, legacy in tourism and forestry,
and evolving landscapes.
With the branding refresh in 2014, the council
now uses the trading name "Rotorua Lakes Council" and the official logo is
simply the text "ROTORUA // LAKES COUNCIL" (and sometimes the Maori name "Te
kaunihera o ngā roto o Rotorua") in various colour combinations of white, black
and light blue (PMS 3125C), green (PMS 376C) or orange
(PMS 1585 C). (See
"Council's Logo"
http://www.rdc.govt.nz/our-council/about-council/ourvision/Pages/Council's-Logo.aspx.)
The Takarangi has been reduced to a supporting element of the brand, not
included in the logo. The
"Logo Use" page yields seven more similar images. The fonts used are Raleway
Bold and Raleway Semi-bold, which will be relevant if we do come across any
flags based on the current 'logo'.
Google Street View does show a black flag with at least a white
'ROT(takarangi)RUA', as used in the council logo at the time, flying at the
council chambers in March 2013. It's not clear whether there are any other
elements on the flag. Earlier Street View images (June 2008 and February 2010)
show a flag with a green field flying in the same location.
Jonathan
Dixon, 26 April 2016
