New York Fire Department uses outside inspiration for logo

Fire departments, police and other important authorities can look outside their immediate fields for inspiration when creating a new logo. That's what the official Fire Department of New York City has done in designing an updated image to celebrate its 150th anniversary.

According to a piece on DNAInfo, the symbol, picked from a group of "about 30," features an artistic representation of city buildings, with white and blue shading showing their outlines and a large image of the face of the Statue of Liberty in front of them. This last detail reportedly comes from a jersey design used by the local hockey team, the New York Rangers, in which Lady Liberty appears outlined in blue and red above the letters "NYR." 

However, this isn't a coincidence: the department is said to have consulted with the Rangers for permission. The source quotes an unnamed representative of Madison Square Garden about this similarity, who confirmed that the design had caused no conflict between the two organizations.

"The FDNY shared its new commemorative logo with us in advance and we thought it was great," this person said. "The New York Rangers are proud supporters of the FDNY and our Garden of Dreams Foundation works closely with the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York."

The logo is an important part of the department's anniversary celebrations, which will include scheduled parties and parades in the city. The official FDNY Twitter page has already adopted it.

What starts as a less tangible design can turn into an organization's preferred logo for all sorts of different material. Custom screen printing can help businesses change their image in a concrete way and make signage pieces that give customers something concrete to think of when they look at the brand.