Mysuru: The District Administration, as part of its plan to build Mysuru as a Brand, had invited members of the public to send in a logo design that symbolised Mysuru and display a global design appeal.

Accordingly, entries were invited and Rs. 50,000 was kept as prize money to entice designers. The designers were asked to draw the logo in such a way that the theme and symbolic elements of Mysuru were incorporated in the design and the logo should have a catchy tagline.

The last date for submitting entries was Feb. 15, 2018 and the Department of Tourism had received nearly 500 entries. Yet, it seems they haven’t found a suitable logo.

“We were supposed to present the logo before the District Tourism Management Committee headed by the District In-charge Minister with the DC, SP, Commissioner of Police, Mayor, MP, MLAs and top-level officers as members. But unfortunately, the logos we received looked childish,” said Tourism Department Deputy Director H. Janardhan.

Speaking to SOM, he said that since the Election Model Code of Conduct came into force in March, the Department could not finalise the logo and added saying “We received entries from Mysuru, Bengaluru and even from Mumbai but none met the expected standards; some of them looked like they had been designed by LKG and UKG children. Nowhere Mysuru and its symbols are represented.”

But some of the established designers from Bengaluru and Chennai, who called SOM to ask if a logo was chosen, were surprised to learn that their work was being equated to an LKG child’s work.

Interestingly, some of them said announcing prize money was the reason that many unqualified people had sent in their childish designs. One designer said good designers will design a logo for free just for the pride of having designed the logo for a globally-known tourist city like Mysuru. The Department will present the logo designs to Tourism Management Committee once a new District Minister is appointed and a final choice will be made.