The organization formerly known as the Bellevue Renaissance Committee teamed up with Covington branding agency BLDG, and have launched a new brand for downtown Bellevue called In Vue.

There are layers of the branding components that go beyond just a logo and a slogan, explained Jay Becker and Nick Dew of BLDG. The agency was tasked with communicating the essence of Bellevue and all of what Becker called its big, beautiful stories through visual media with the logo and the patterns that are associated with the brand.

BLDG did similar branding work for the City of Lexington in 2013 when they designed the big blue horse visuals.

“You all have been super progressive in terms of being ahead of the curve. Before anyone else had really looked at their urban center and how to change it, you had changed it and you were done. You guys have always been so far ahead, and we’re considered a fairly progressive design partner,” Becker said.

The most prominent feature to the brand is the logo with is a stout capital “B” composed of many colorful squares inside the letter. The pattern that the colorful squares make are associated differently based on the age of the person looking at it.

Becker said that the thinking of the design was that those over the age of 40 or so would see the design that looks like a patchwork quilt, while those younger than 40 identify the squares as pixels on a computer screen.

BLDG unveiled Bellevue’s new brand in a public presentation at the Callahan Center where city meetings are regularly held. The design was displayed and discussed at length, as the agency explained its decisions when forming the brand.

They created a fictional woman in her mid to late 20’s named Deena, who was used as a type of person that the brand is intended to attract to Bellevue; they call it an aspirational target.

“It’s not a marketing demographic, it’s a design focus,” Becker said of Deena. “We’re creating a look and feel that literally goes across this chasm of people which covers the widest swath.”

The brand describes Bellevue as a not-so-hidden-gem that most people are aware of, but might take currently take for granted as far as all the positive and worthwhile things the city has to offer. The brand paints the city as picturesque, colorful, handcrafted, and homespun.

“We don’t want to look beyond what’s here and the stories that exist, but to a certain degree, we have to add some aspirational levels to it so that new people are enticed to come here,” Becker said. “When you see the look and feel of the brand work itself, you’re going to see some old and some new and that’s on purpose.”

The words “In Vue” are able to be used with a wide variety of verbs before it that create a sense of action happening in Bellevue. Examples of this were the phrases, Play In Vue, Dine In Vue, Meet In Vue, and Be In Vue, though the uses are seemingly limitless. This portion of the brand was shown to work with posters and banners, as well as clothing and merchandise. Also, Bellevue city signage can use these catch phrases to describe events happening in the city. The typeface selected for In Vue is a variety called Tittilium.

With the new brand, the Bellevue Renaissance Committee, which helps small businesses and the imagery of the city through marketing and other business channels, also becomes the simple In Vue.

"Bellevue Renaissance realized, thanks to customers like you, we've experienced our Renaissance and it's time to embrace the eclectic characteristics that reflect the true colors of our historic Fairfield Avenue business district," the committee stated in an email.

In Vue weaves together the past while embracing the future and colorful patchwork of Bellevue's plentiful assets with a fresh new look, the committee continued. The new brand aligns the Main Street organization, business, and all of our stakeholders; providing a platform to share their story. In Vue's chairperson Jen Ruschman commented, "Leaving Bellevue Renaissance behind to embrace a new brand lets us focus on the future and acknowledges the major Renaissance is past."

Written by Bryan Burke, associate editor