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Main Street Atmore held a new branding launch Sept. 1 at West Escambia Utilities.

Main Street Alabama named Atmore as one of its designated cities in June 2020, and since then have held community meetings to help the city in different areas. Main Street Alabama is a private non-profit and state coordinating program of Main Street America. The National Main Street Four Point Approach is an over 40-year model that focuses work in four areas: organization, design, promotion and economic vitality with strategies unique to the community and based on market-based outcome, according to Advance archives.

The branding launch is a part of Main Street Atmore’s help in establishing a destination brand for downtown Atmore. Main Street Alabama officials, city leaders, community members, business owners and residents attended the launch.

“Branding, for me, it’s about how do outsiders and we view our community as a whole,” Main Street Atmore Executive Director Niki Bryan said.

Shawn Terpack, who is with Arnett Muldrow and Associates of Greenville, S.C., presented the branding launch to approximately 50 people.

Terpack said the process began when Main Street Alabama came into the community for a three-day meeting, which included a roundtable for approximately a day and a half and a meeting with residents, business owners and other stakeholders to help establish the branding.

Terpack said then, Main Street set about putting all of the conversations down to what they shed to help create a unique identity.

Terpack said the process includes looking at what other communities are doing as far as branding; and looking at the community proper including events and different identities of organizations.

He said the color inspiration comes from a bright, bold color pallet, which helps exude energy and drives visitors to the community.

On the brand itself, Main Street officials centered on not only the “A” in Atmore, but the “more” as well.

“On typefaces, we wanted something that conveyed energy and is unique to the community,” Terpack said. “When it’s set in the Atmore name, the ‘A’ jumped out to me and I really liked it. The accent font is named Las Vegas. We wanted something in the system to be personable, like a hand written note.”

Terpack said Main Street tried to take time and listen to everybody’s input, from residents to community leaders, and turn into a narrative for the brand statement of the community.

The main downtown Atmore logo includes a destination point, along with radiant yellow lines pointing outward. The “Atmore” is a green color with “more to discover” below in light blue.

Terpack said it was important to make a design that can be reproduced with many different colors as needed.

“We want to make sure it works in different constructs, instead of to the side,” he said.

Terpack also presented design variations on events such as Williams Station Day, Mayfest, Trick or Treat on the Street and more.