On Wednesday, January 3, 2024, a post was made to Nederland’s Facebook community page, “Nedheads.” The post contained an image from a presentation of the Town of Nederland’s potential new logo, font, and tagline, designed by Godot Communications Inc; it received 190 “reacts” and over 630 comments, without a single positive response among them.

The following is a recapitulation of Godot’s process from October through December 2023, and of the presentation before the Board of Trustees (BOT) on January 2, 2024, leading to the community backlash which ensued once the designs went public.

Representatives for Godot address the backlash and divulge how the firm intends to compartmentalize the immense criticism and move forward.

Who is Godot?

“It feels like they’re trying to push their personal aesthetic onto Ned instead of helping us define our own.”

“Giving Godot free rein in interpretation and design is where I saw things went wrong.”

“The person who signed up for this job had no idea who they were dealing with.”

Godot is a Boulder based “hybrid consultancy” founded in 2006 by Beckett Taylor, who has 30 years of experience with what his company biography describes as “over a hundred client engagements” across interactive and traditional media fields.

Taylor’s background brought him from teaching art history and technology in Russia to working in collaboration with HIT Entertainment, PBS, and Sesame Workshop in New York City, to launching the television channel Sprout, which featured 24 hours per day of preschool entertainment and educational programming, from 2005 to 2017.

Since its inception, Godot has worked for major names in the commercial market, including Hyatt Hotels and McDonald’s, as well as in the government realm from the NYC Department of Education to the U.S. Air Force.

Town Administrator Miranda Fisher and Public Engagement Officer Peter Cacek both expressed that Godot’s more local work was also a factor taken into consideration when selecting them for the project. Fisher noted during the September 5 BOT meeting that she had worked with Godot previously at Boulder County Public Health.

“Godot came at us with colors and ideas to explore Nederland’s roots. They showed off work they did for Boulder County, Out Boulder Colorado, and all sorts of companies, emphasizing how each brand was unique and a fit for that project. Those were the kinds of things that won us over,” Cacek said.

Godot’s team for Nederland’s brand identity project consists of Creative Director Taylor, Managing Director Iti Loorents, Art Director Makenzie Davis, and Jay Clark, responsible for Copy and Culture.

From engagement to product

“I did participate in group discussions and have no idea how this abstract design made it to being the only one presented. I like the people on the team, I’m baffled how they landed here.”

Despite the general community expressing distaste for anything to do with tourism, Godot planned to engage with up to 225 individual Nederland residents and business owners to indicate creative themes for the design process. Godot’s public engagement began on October 3, 2023, with key community stakeholders being invited to an “engagement session” at Kathmandu Restaurant.

The first session involved stakeholders defining Nederland beyond the identity that tourists have already established, and the reputation formed over several decades as a tourist destination.

Those in attendance were asked to participate in word exercises, from cherry-picking single words from the natural conversation around the room, singling out words like “hearty” and “funky,” to describing Nederland in six words or less, and coming up with mock slogans that residents might wish to use to portray Nederland to visitors.

Some were chosen to read their six-word stories and mock slogans while being recorded for Godot’s documentary production. One example from the session was the suggested slogan, “We take bets on how many winters you’d survive up here.”

“It’s a cycle, because the generation of ideas feeds into the understanding of the community, which, in turn, redefines the challenge,” Taylor explained to The Mountain-Ear about the community engagement part of Godot’s process.

“The best solution for visual things is often a human-centric design model backed up with historical and political research and lived experience. In the context of Nederland, this was the month of October and the community groups.”

The engagement sessions were promoted either by Town staff or Godot during updates to Nederland’s various boards, including the Nederland Downtown Development Authority (NDDA) on October 11, the BOT again on October 17, and the Planning Commission on October 25.

Residents were able to schedule their attendance at these open public meetings through the Town of Nederland’s website, as well as through Godot’s project website.

The session held at Very Nice Brewing Company focused on defining Nederland’s past, present, and future. Residents at this session openly discussed their own potential visions for Nederland’s future, which included such prospects as cleaner and more organized trails, and the total eradication of tourism and AirBnBs.

Godot hosted an exercise at the Nederland Community Center, held during Art at the Center, which involved attendees telling a story using color swatches. One result from this exercise was eight year old Will choosing four color swatches to represent his memory of learning to ride a bike for the first time, which yielded colors representing his bike, the tires, and the mountains and trees rushing by.

Several engagement meetings were held with local youth, including students attending Chinook West High School, and a session with the Mountain Coalition for Youth, during which attendees were asked to choose ingredients to make a “Nederland soup.”

“I’ve been a chef my whole life and when you break down a soup you break it down to base, protein, spice, aromatics, and garnish,” Jay Clark said to the BOT during Godot’s presentation on January 2, 2024.

“This exercise was really about getting people to use more words and think outside the box, and to get some warmth and some nuance into feedback, because what we’re doing is distilling all these ideas into one product, which is what a soup is,” Clark stated.

“I really appreciate and admire how intentional they were about including youth in this process, to ensure they received feedback from as many different stakeholders as possible,” Max Marschhausen, the Community Mobilizer for TEENS, Inc., told The Mountain-Ear about Godot’s engagement with Nederland’s youth.

A “Community Action Planning Workshop” was held on October 31 at the Nederland Community Center. It was highly publicized by the Town of Nederland. Announcements for the workshop were posted on the Nederland Colorado Town Hall Facebook page throughout October.

The goal of the workshop was to continue from the groundwork provided by the Colorado Tourism Office (CTO), from the Reimagine Destinations Program, and to further develop and implement tourism management guidelines for the Town.

Community Center Manager Dawn Baumhover, Parks Manager Nicki Dunn, and Fisher were present, along with Streets Supervisor Joshua Davis and Sustainability Coordinator Leah Haney. Mayor Billy Giblin and Mayor Pro Tem Tom Mahowald attended, as did Kate Masingale, Steve Rowntree and Ron Mitchell of the NDDA, and President of the Peak to Peak Chamber of Commerce Natalie Duplessy. In addition to members of CTO, Nederland business owners, event coordinators, residents, and other tourism stakeholders, Taylor and Loorents of Godot were also in attendance.

The room was divided into teams, all working to discuss how tourism management can positively affect multiple key areas of focus, including local commerce and special events. The teams were tasked with forming potential actionable initiatives from their discussions.

Taylor, who facilitated the group meant to focus on tourism management’s relationship to branding, gave a brief introduction to participants of the workshop, and mentioned some of Godot’s experiences in their public engagement process.

“We learned that people of Nederland don’t stare at their phones as much as we filthy flatlanders. We learned that Nederland doesn’t get engaged by talking about the Broncos. And throughout all this we’re beginning to build this beautiful, wonderful, complex identity that can only be expressed visually.”

Following Godot’s spirited engagement with the community, the team began to create its first treatment for Nederland’s brand identity. This result was shared on December 12 with a “core team,” which was formed by Godot.

“This was very much a curated group, in part for your various roles in the community but largely for your engagement and insight during the focus groups themselves,” Taylor wrote in an email to the core team.

The team consisted of Cacek, Fisher, Duplessy, Marschhausen, Vice Chair of PROSAB Sam Ovett, former member of the Sustainability Advisory Board Larry Tasaday, and two others.

“The “test” phase was marked by forming the final creative group from the community to work through the month of December to make sure the approach resonated on some level and was ready to be put forward for public comment,” Taylor explained to The Mountain-Ear, as the purpose of the core team.

The design elements, being the logo mark, word mark, tagline, and “whimsies” or “boops,” that were presented on December 12, elicited mostly positive feedback from the core team. The word mark (or font), the tagline, and the boops, were met with great praise. However, the logo mark was not as well received.

Though some were struck by the logo mark, noting appreciation for the versatility of the design, as Godot showed its use across multiple applications and in different styles, there were others on the core team who were more critical. One member of the team equated it to a metropolitan railway logo, and others addressed the inclusion of Nederland’s relationship to Boulder within the logo design as being a misstep.

The core team met again on December 21, joined by Giblin and Mahowald. The design elements had not been changed. However, some elements of the public presentation being planned by Godot were changed or completely removed.

Though Fisher was present at both meetings and continued to be vocal about her trepidation over the logo mark, Godot remained forthright in their decision to move forward with the design elements as they were.

The Presentation

“Fits well with the proposed look of the new Ned downtown everyone said was basic AF.”

“I stepped back and looked closer and I still have no clue what I’m looking at.”

“If you have to explain the graphic, you’ve already lost your audience.”

With the brand identity project required to reach completion by April, 2024 as dictated by the Tourism Management Grant, Town staff and officials strongly requested that Godot present their progress during a formal BOT meeting and introduce their designs to the public.

“The room felt very split, with some liking the logo and creative identity campaign and others not,” Fisher detailed in a January 6 email, speaking on the lack of changes made to the designs during the core team meetings.

“While Godot said they were going to tweak the design a bit based on the initial feedback, when we met at the Nederland Community Center the design was pretty much the same.

“Following that meeting, I was talking with Nichole [Sterling] and she was concerned the BOT was not going to be presented options and that Godot seemed to be at a place where they wanted to finalize the creative identity campaign without running it by the BOT first,” Fisher wrote.

“Miranda was sounding the alarm, and expressing that maybe she was not being heard,” Trustee Nichole Sterling told The Mountain-Ear. “I requested from Godot a couple of different options because I believe there’s power in choice.

“If you don’t want to present multiple versions then you need to present to the BOT and let the public chime in.” Sterling, along with Cacek and Fisher, reviewed and accepted Godot’s original proposal for the project, and attended Godot’s first stakeholder session on October 3.

“In preparation for the meeting with the BOT, Peter and I did talk in length with Godot about how that logo was not representative of Nederland and likely was not going to land well with this community. However, we supported Godot bringing it forward since they were feeling confident that this logo did reflect the feedback received,” Fisher noted in her email.

On January 2, Godot presented their draft brand identity to the Board. Before the unveiling of the design elements, Taylor offered some rules of engagement, which he had initially utilized during the core team meetings.

“Try not to “seagull,” Taylor said to Trustees. “ ‘Seagulls’ are people that fly in, pick something apart, take a crap on it, and fly away.

“What we’re really looking for is personal insight. Careful with the word ‘like.’ ‘Like’ isn’t a very actionable thing. In reacting to these, make sure you’re holding true to your personal aesthetics, but also thinking about the usability, why we made the choices that we did.

“Respect the process and the input. There isn’t a single choice that was made in a vacuum,” Taylor continued. “And it’s okay to love things as they are.”

“This is scary for us, don’t get out your pitchforks on this. We’re not government officials; if you’re mean to us I’m going to be mean back. Don’t be mean. This is very personal and a lot of work has gone into it.”

The word mark was introduced first, which is a variation of the Potra font with added embellishments, such as colored dots, that are more visible as one looks closer.

“It’s versatile and it can read in a lot of different ways,” Clark said, presenting the font. “It looks like rivers and paths. There’s a lot of subtlety to it.

“All of these elements are tools; this font is from this wonderful toolbox of things that Peter, Miranda, and everyone can access.”

Giblin stated that, though he would not personally have chosen the font in question to represent the Town of Nederland, he was growing to like it. Trustee Eric Coombs-Esmail noted that the font appears thin and becomes increasingly difficult to read from farther away.

“It’s weird and funky enough, but yet grounded enough, so you guys hit that,” Sterling said.

The embellishments, which Godot was referring to as “boops,” were pieces of digital art created from tactile materials arranged as small murals, each representing Town departments and areas of interest, including Parks and Fire and Safety.

“I make this handmade paper that is a combination of junk mail and actual soil,” Art Director Makenzie Davis detailed how the paper absorbs soils into its fiber and forms special textures. “There’s soil that comes directly from the Nederland area and I collage those with imagery that might be important to the Town.”

Sterling asked for Nederland’s history of mining and music to be articulated in more of Davis’ designs. Coombs-Esmail wished for the colors to be more pronounced, but ultimately was in favor of the boops.

“I especially appreciate that they incorporate analog work in a way that isn’t too fetishistic, where we’re using the analog but at the same time it could never be like this without the digital intervention, and I really appreciate that,” Coombs-Esmail said.

Godot created “step back, look closer” to be Nederland’s tagline, and to be a subversive acknowledgment of the community’s true feelings on tourism.

“We can’t tell people to go away, we can’t go with ‘Nederland: we’re full,’ ” Taylor joked. “But we wanted to honor that very real thing, that Nederland isn’t exactly throwing its doors open saying ‘the more the merrier.’ That the growth is possibly inevitable but it needs to be sustainable and controlled. It reminds people of where they sit in the world.”

Trustees reacted tepidly to the tagline, with Sterling expressing admiration of the play on duality.

“This is definitely a community that has a lot of dual perspectives and things that are constantly pulling and tugging on each other. I think that’s a wonderful theme to rope into our overall identity,” Sterling said.

The introduction of the logo mark induced varying reactions from the Board, from confusion to anxiety, and left Trustees to inquire more about its abstract meaning, as well as its literal interpretation.

Taylor immediately clarified that the stark symbolic design of the logo mark can be modified, after describing the concepts that can be found within the design.

“The circle can be the sky or the moon – it can be everything else that’s bigger than us. On the bottom, if you want to be literal it’s the reservoir; if you want to be a little more meta it’s the foundation, it’s what holds us up, perched precariously between these two great forces and holding its own,” Taylor explained.

Giblin, as well as Nederland resident Lindsey Danforth, who made public comment during the meeting, noted that the design resembles rock cairns. Building rock cairns is considered to be environmentally unfriendly as it is disruptive to natural habitats.

“The designer in me wants to tell you in the nicest way possible that any shape that you put in front of me, not only can I tell you that it look like something but I can probably tell you that it looks like something incredibly offensive and filthy,” Taylor joked, after specifying that the team’s intention was not to create art that resembled stacked rocks.

“It’s more about how the majority of the public interprets something rather than what we hope they interpret,” Danforth responded.

Mahowald expressed feeling uneasy due to the precarious balancing of the design; Trustee Jesse Seavers admitted to having difficulty warming up to it; Sterling stated that the logo mark felt too cerebral and required too much external explanation; and Giblin required more insight into the concept of the bottom shape in the logo mark containing a 17.7 degree slope, meant to represent the degree of incline from Boulder to Nederland.

Taylor admitted that they used an arbitrary number to create the slope, however Giblin was adamant and plainly stated, “There is no road with a 17-degree slope that CDOT would design.”

Only Coombs-Esmail gave positive feedback on the logo mark, though he constructively added that it required more sharp edges to capture Nederland’s more “gritty” nature and demeanor.

“Be aware that maybe we’ve created a cognitive dissonance here that we need to think about,” Taylor said, in defense of the abstract duality presented in the design.

“You are creating cognitive dissonance but I don’t want people to be angry about this,” Giblin responded.

“I don’t think we can worry about that so much,” Coombs-Esmail said.

“It’s probably good that we take that into consideration because it matters what people think about it; it’s their money that we’re spending. I’m just pointing out that we’re having a hard time wrapping our heads around it and some of us are more abstract thinkers,” Giblin concluded.

Before Godot left and the Trustees called for adjournment, Coombs-Esmail expressed his gratitude for the work the team had done.

“It’s obvious that you put so much thought into this and so much energy and really engaged with the community in a meaningful way and I’m thankful for that,” Coombs-Esmail said.

“The process by which this was created, the story behind it and the story we can tell about it going forward, is more important than what it looks like at the end of the day, and I think that you guys have nailed that.”

The community speaks up

“If public engagement is what they want, Nedheads is the perfect forum.”

“It’s nice to see everyone agreeing on something for a change.”

“I guess this is our collective punishment for not being more involved in town.”

On January 3, an image of Godot’s logo mark, which also featured the font and tagline, was posted on the Nedheads Facebook page and was met with mass disapproval from the Nederland community.

Though some commenters understood the imagery being portrayed in the logo mark, including the Sisyphean aspect and the theme of precarious balance, they were not in favor of such a message representing their town’s identity.

Many commenters equated the logo mark’s design to represent Nederland being “stuck” between its own authentic past and ever-encroaching gentrification. Those who viewed the community’s struggle to be subversively represented within the design noted that it made them feel “anxious” and “tense.”

Community commenters felt that the tagline, “step back, look closer,” could be construed as an unfriendly directive and, in combination with the logo mark, identified Nederland as being uninviting.

“Maybe we hit too close,” Taylor said to The Mountain-Ear in response to some of the negative backlash from Nederland residents.

“Nederland is this tiny little town ripe for gentrification smashed between these big things and at risk of falling apart. It is in a tough spot and the logo does kind of reflect that, but we certainly didn’t want people to feel anxious; we wanted them to feel centered.

“We probably need to put forth things that are aspirational instead of realistic for Nederland,” Taylor noted.

Along with those on the Nedheads post who wished to see “Neddy Betty,” the copyrighted hula-hooping moose, be made into the Town’s official logo, others utilized AI programming to create samples of a Town logo, most of which the community felt were more representational of Nederland than Godot’s designs.

Several other commenters spoke against the use of AI for artistic design, and some accused Godot of solely using AI to create their logo mark.

“Process is what makes things real and bespoke and we believe that truly caring and empathizing with the needs of your client is what’s going to separate true design agencies from people who type in prompts,” Taylor said.

Commenters also echoed a talking point raised by Seavers during the January 2 presentation regarding representational design. Seavers spoke about expecting from Godot a simple redesign of the Town’s current municipal logo, consisting of trees, mountain peaks, and streams. Many Nederland residents agreed with Seavers in wanting a more traditional design aesthetic for the Town’s logo.

“Where there might be some disconnect here is if you want a traditional town logo with a guitar and a moose and an excavator in a circle with a landmark of Nederland you don’t really go to design agencies,” Taylor added, in relation to the fact that Godot was hired by Town staff to create a brand identity, not only to design a municipal logo.

While Godot was faced with most of the townspeople’s disapproval, Town staff and the BOT were also called out by commenters for perceived corruption involving nepotism and embezzlement, and for participating in the whitewashing of the Town’s past identity.

“Chances are that town staff drove this. They saw the grant, considered it free money, and sold it to the BOT,” one commenter wrote.

“Who from the town admin staff is personally connected to Godot communications and where is the money that was supposedly paid to them?” asked another commenter, who also wrote: “It really doesn’t take a lot to connect the dots. Perhaps it is the same reason that we don’t have a dedicated town police force anymore? Or why the BOT cannot retain members? It’s pretty obvious what is going on at town hall.”

“Someone in government told (Godot) what the town needed was some modern, slick, high concept rebrand totally at odds with the actual character of the community. The problem is whoever made that decision is also making much more impactful decisions for the town,” wrote another Nedheads member.

Town staff addressed the public response directly and wrote a comment on the original Nedheads post to assure people that their feedback was being heard and that Godot would be submitting alternative designs to the BOT and the public in February.

A press release was written and later posted on the Nederland Colorado Town Hall and Nedheads Facebook pages that reiterated Town staff’s message; almost immediately that post was inundated with mostly negative comments from angry townspeople.

“I am aware that there are a lot of comments regarding a lack of oversight by staff,” Fisher wrote in an email to The Mountain-Ear. “Town staff were involved in almost all of the public engagement sessions. Either me or Peter were present unless both of us were tied up. We met with Godot weekly to discuss progress.

“I personally think Godot needed to receive the feedback they have, regardless of how harsh and negative it is. I do appreciate that they were trying to think outside the box; however, I agree with a lot of the comments that it was too abstract,” Fisher continued.

“I will tell you that I am disappointed to see how much staff are being attacked on social media over this.”

“I would acknowledge that we all make mistakes,” Sterling said, weighing in on the massive negative response resulting in hateful emails and personal messages being sent to Godot employees, Trustees, and Town staff. “Godot made a mistake and they recognize that.

“Are we not willing to give others the same grace we’d show to one of our own? Or are we really so unforgiving that our own people don’t want to participate out of fear of backlash from their own community?”

Next steps

“We’re veering. We’re not walking away, we’re just moving into a different process based on this feedback.”

“The process is not lost, it’s still dialed into all that public engagement, and it shows how possible it is to move forward.”

“Through the conflict is the chance for repair, which leads to a better result than from having no conflict at all.”

These are quotes from the Godot team, interviewed five days after the Nedheads post was made and gained traction with the community. Over that time Godot pored through every comment on Nedheads, every message sent through Facebook Messenger, every email sent, and every voicemail recorded.

“We have forced ourselves to read through every single (comment) to see if there is something actionable. The more thoughtful letters that have been forwarded are greatly appreciated,” Taylor said.

“You can understand why we’re not running back up there with open arms, but there are silver linings to this. There are clear directions, we have tangible feedback. And now that there’s accountability and actionable steps attached to these choices, when we put forward a traditional logo that has that feel, it’s no longer something we’re putting forward hoping that people will like it, it’s now a design mandated by the people who wrote those letters.”

Despite a belief among Town staff and representatives that Godot was not willing to change the direction of their process and redesign any of the brand elements they had presented, Taylor believes that presenting their designs within the formality of a BOT meeting served as a detriment to Godot’s process and implied Godot’s aversion to Trustee or public input.

“Originally, that session was envisioned as a public working group, open to all,” Taylor explained, “where the people and leadership would be able to spend a little bit more time with each element, share individual feedback and group feedback, and make suggestions and ask questions in a less restrictive environment.

“At the urging of a few members of the BOT, we moved that work session into that more formal presentation. The Board wanted to make their statements publicly; they’re using this to show that they’re listening to people,” Taylor said.

During the January 2 BOT meeting, Sterling asked fellow Trustees whether they would prefer Godot return to the Board with at least three choices. Taylor was at first insistent that Godot’s design team would prefer not to deliver choices, detailing how such “design-by-committee” practices often result in bad design, and how design firms often use the illusion of choice to trick clients into selecting the desired design by displaying it alongside two lackluster designs.

Fisher added that there were certain restraints in relation to asking Godot to go back to the drawing board.

“$25,000 was a stretch for what we’re asking for and we don’t have a ton left,” Fisher stated to the Board on January 2. “I want to be very respectful that we have a design team that’s doing incredible work for us at a very discounted rate, but we’re coming to the end of this grant and I’m a little concerned about time, finances, capacity, and I would love to encourage the Board to give recommendations off of this, not asking for any sort of from-scratch redesign.”

However, after the community backlash spread through the Nedheads post made on January 3, Fisher and Town staff immediately followed up with Godot on how to best move forward.

The official press release from the Town of Nederland released on January 4 reads: “While we are pleased to note that certain elements of the campaign have resonated positively with the community, we acknowledge that concerns have been raised regarding other parts. Specifically, that the initial design does not align with the essence of Nederland.

“In response to this valuable feedback, the Godot Creative team is committed to a thorough revision of the logo, incorporating the insights and preferences expressed by the community. The revised design will be presented to the Board of Trustees at an upcoming meeting, reflecting our dedication to ensuring that the creative identity fully embodies the character and values of the Town of Nederland.”

“When we hear from someone they want choice, we have to give them choice,” Taylor told The Mountain-Ear. “We redirect, we move on. We honor Nederland and we put our best foot forward, to create the best possible thing within the rules of engagement that the Board and the community have set up.”

As for how Godot plans to move forward, Taylor specified how Godot’s creative process ensures a visible path for design, from initial brainstorming to the final result, with clear indication of how the public engagement was incorporated into each new iteration of the design throughout its journey along the path.

“As input comes in from the community through the design sessions, you begin making choices. If you hear from multiple groups that Nederland doesn’t want to look like Estes or Boulder, you mentally trim the branch of traditional Colorado mountain town logos,” Taylor said, enlisting a bonsai metaphor to describe Godot’s process.

“When something proves divisive, we rewind and look at the things we heard, the choices we made, and question whether that cut was a good cut.”

As Godot begins to reassess the steps of their process to return to the BOT in February with new choices of brand identity designs, a “minidocumentary” is still in the works, which, according to Taylor, will not shy away from the community backlash against their work.

“This all will make for a climactic point of conflict. Where we are now will kind of represent the hero’s journey, where the group of friends suddenly faces conflict and they work through it together and they come back home having learned new things. We are looking forward to seeing how it ends as well, frankly,” Taylor said.

Taylor and the Godot team will not be deterred from delivering a brand identity that the community can stand behind, despite taking on a project with its own baggage in regard to the community and their feelings towards tourism, and after receiving a barrage of criticism from constructive to those questioning the legitimacy of their company. “Ultimately it’s my fault, I’m the creative director on this project,” Taylor explained. “We misinterpreted; we set up the structure the wrong way, so we’re looking forward to resetting and going to that directive design model that has been explicitly asked for by the community.

“By going to this reactive community-driven model we become more of a production team, going more along the suggestions of traditional municipal logos and capturing the nature of “weird.”

“This is still part of the process, albeit unnecessarily rough, but we will pull what we can from it to put the best foot forward for Nederland.”