In May, Benton County’s transit system got a new name — Benton Area Transit or BAT — as well as getting a few new services and a rebranding to the tune of $8,000.
Benton County Public Information Officer Alyssa Rash said that the funds behind this change came from the transit program.
Madison Ave. Collective, a local business and designer of Benton County’s new brand, was tasked with the design of the new BAT logo. MAC, according to their website, is “a strategic branding design and website user experience firm.”
Jeff Jimerson, the Creative Director at MAC, said one of the things Benton County wanted when they hired the firm was to continue along the lines of the new county logo.
“The [BAT] branding needed to be compatible with Benton County’s new identity system,” Jimerson said, “so we used fonts and colors that are within the County’s branding.”
This was not the only parameter the designers at MAC were keeping in mind.
“We wanted the brand to feel inviting and accessible, so we used simple shapes and friendly colors,” Jimerson said, adding beforehand that the design was also inspired by “Movement and connections between people and places.”
Additionally, the official identity guide the firm developed for the rebrand said colors were meant to be the same as those already used in the Benton County color palette, and that the shape in the A of the BAT logo was meant to look like the open road and evoke a “feeling of movement.”
The stripes, in some version of the brand, were meant to achieve the same goal.
To check out the BAT logo and find transit to where you need to be, go to RideTheBAT.com.
By: Hannah Ramsey
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