PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The graphic designer who gained fame for his "I Love NY" logo in the 1970s has crafted a new logo and slogan for Rhode Island meant to evoke the ocean, artistry, uniqueness and the hip youthfulness of the capital city along with the warmth of local communities: "Rhode Island: Cooler & Warmer."

On Monday evening before the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, key members of the design team hired in the fall under a $5-million contract will talk about their efforts to create a compelling message. Their goal is to attract people to visit, do business and live in Rhode Island, said the state's new chief marketing officer, Betsy Wall, and Havas PR North America CEO Marian Salzman in an interview Monday with The Providence Journal. Salzman's firm was one of three hired in the fall, and they're all now working closely with each other and with Wall, who began here in January.

In the logo, violet and orange words surround a yellow, orange, light blue and white logo. The largest expanse of the logo looks like a billowing white sail, but it could easily be a windsurfer, Wall said. Wall said she particularly likes that the large white expanse allows people to pause and reflect on what they see, and it's intended to do so. As the design team tested the logo with people while it was under development, Wall noted that some said it looks like a path.

As for the words "Cooler & Warmer," Wall said they're intended to connote innovation and hip, young culture in a place where people truly identify as Rhode Islanders — even beyond state borders, where "Rhode Islanders who leave Rhode Island find each other, and they come back."

"The juxtaposition of the two words kind of makes you think of contrasts and ideals, which could be seen as compatible and sort of supportive of each other," Wall said. "In other words, we're not Williamsburg. We're not a place that's trying to stay the same old, same old. It's a place that's trying to make the most of its future."

Yet the effort is larger than merely a logo. The team has produced a video and they're preparing for plenty of social-media and digital sharing of the message.

"Imagine a place that feels like home but holds enough uniqueness that you're never bored," begins the video, as it shows WaterFire, restaurateurs, the Bristol parade, local farmers, the Roger Williams statue in Providence's Prospect Park and more.

Rhode Islanders shouldn't expect to see television ads in this first year, Wall said. But airline travelers may soon begin hearing a message from Governor Raimondo and others about Rhode Island's attraction as a place to locate a business.

The team has developed three-minute videos to air on 5,800 American Airlines flights longer than three hours — 70 percent domestic and 30 percent international flights. They've got 30-second spots that will air at 2,100 airport gates in 48 cities, Salzman said.

Milton Glaser, the iconic New York designer whom Michael R. Bloomberg recently consulted while contemplating a presidential campaign, will not be at the meeting. Yet in materials to be presented to the board, he spoke of his work: "The principal objective of Identity is to promote recognition. Another equally important objective is to create affection or friendliness. ... For me, a core issue was to reach residents and young people to make them feel optimistic about the state and its future."

The artistry and creativity of the logo was his work, Salzman and Wall said. Now, Salzman's firm is the one to lead the state's efforts to deploy its message.

When Governor Raimondo introduced $5 million in this current fiscal-year budget for this initiative, she said it was time to put Rhode Island on the map. That money goes to Havas PR, Glaser, Epic Decade and Wall's staff for their creativity, design and the cost of placing advertisements.

Although Governor Chafee quietly adopted a "Discover Beautiful Rhode Island" slogan in 2013, which now greets people along the highways as they enter the state, it has been decades since Rhode Island embarked on a vigorous marketing campaign.

Back in 1981, under then-Gov. J. Joseph Garrahy, the state's campaign slogan was "The Biggest Little State in the Union." Five years later, then-Gov. Ed DiPrete unveiled the slogan, "Rhode Island — Our People Make Us Great." In 1992, then-Gov. Bruce Sundlun touted, "I'm on Your Side, Rhode Island."

[View the story "Strong response on social media to RI's new 'Cooler & Warmer' campaign" on Storify]