The Pella Community School District has created new logos for use across all branding purposes moving forward.

Superintendent Greg Ebeling says in March of 2021, a project was created – led by Activities Director Matt Fouch, to look at district branding and to develop a new package for the district. The district hired Rickabaugh Graphics, who has also worked with high schools and colleges such as Dallas Center-Grimes, Ohio State University and the University of Iowa, and they recommended that PCSD get permission from Purdue University before building a brand package around the “Motion P,” whose legal counsel informed the schools’ that they could no longer use the “Motion P” logo on any profit-generating items moving forward.

Ebeling says this prompted the Pella Schools Branding Committee to begin researching and developing some options for a new P logo. Twenty-two P logos were created by Rickabaugh and then altered and narrowed down by a Pella Branding Committee before being sent out to a vote to various stakeholders involved with Pella Schools. During this process, over 1,500 votes were submitted that led to the new P logo.

Rickabaugh and the Pella Branding Committee researched Dutch heritage to ensure the new brand package offered a secondary logo and options that reflected the tradition and heritage of both Pella and the Dutch. After many small-group and one-on-one meetings with stakeholders, the committee decided to move forward with a logo that represents one of the historic windmills in Pella.