Visit Stockton, the Stockton Visitors & Convention Bureau, spent $80,000 to fund a logo that’s targeted at encouraging tourism for the city.

The logo itself has the two “to’s” in the city’s name flipped while under is a slogan stating “Stocked full of flavor.”

This design makes for an eyesore since there’s nothing smooth or eye catching about it.

Rather, the logo comes off as staccato and “off” due to the two flipped “to’s” in the word Stockton.

Stunned and confused was the initial reaction for this writer due to the slogan’s obscure saying and design.

The slogan “Stocked full of flavor” could be explained as “flavor of the people. The flavor of the food. The flavor of the arts. The flavor of agriculture.” said Wes Rhea, CEO of Visit Stockton in an interview with Record columnist Michael Fitzgerald.

Even with this explanation, the vague connection to Stockton and the failed attempt at livening the slogan makes for a cringe worthy piece.

Despite the vapid design, the intent is cute.

A positive of the logo is its complementary color scheme. Then again, anyone with a color wheel can come to that conclusion without spending $80,000.

In comparison to Stockton’s previous slogan “Celebrate Stockton” or “Asparagus capital of the world,” this seems like a downgrade.

Whereas the prior slogan implied there was something to celebrate in Stockton and the asparagus slogan connected to an annual event, the new logo creates a head scratch with its vague statement and clunky design.

Again, despite the explanation, what does “Stocked full of flavor” mean?

At the very least the “Celebrate Stockton” logo followed a traditional tagline structure with simplicity.

My perspective is that a big problem with this choice is that even with a grandeurs logo, no one wants to come here.

If those in charge of Stockton’s logo design are again reconsidering the composition of the logo, then maybe they should revisit the “Celebrate Stockton” design with an improved font and color design.

Beleaguered Detroit is known as “the Renaissance City.”

If this is all we can come up with for Stockton, then we’ve done something wrong.