New Dorset Council logo

It has been designed 'in house' at no cost by in-house graphic designers and features the colours of the county in reflecting its countryside, sea and beaches.

The new logo for the other new Dorset unitary council, Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch, had an £8,000 design budget.

Dorset Council is the new unitary council which will replace East Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck, West Dorset, Weymouth & Portland, and Dorset County councils .

The reorganisation of local government in Dorset is underway with the aim of reducing costs, generating further economic growth, and providing a more efficient way of operating to help protect vital frontline services for residents into the future.

The council say the new logo has been designed to be - simple and flexible to work well on digital platforms such as the council website, social media and email, as well as on more traditional platforms such as building and road signage, vehicle livery, staff uniforms and all other items modern and distinctive to represent the new 21st century council accessible so it can be clearly seen and recognised by everyone, including people with visual impairment representative of the landscape of Dorset.

A number of different logo designs were shown to nearly 1,000 councillors, council staff and local residents, who voted on their preferred design. The selected logo was the most popular design with all groups.

The authority says that where possible the new branding will go live from April 1st and not before, however, people may see some signage, uniforms and vehicles carrying the new branding before this date  because logistically and financially it made sense to do this.

A council spokesman said that over the next two years it hopes that all old council branding will be replaced with the new Dorset Council branding. To minimize costs, services will rebrand items as and when they reach the end of their natural life and are due for replacement.