Starting a business requires vision, a belief that vision can be achieved, and hard work. You start with a plan and, quite often, a logo representing the founder’s vision.
For VV&W, our vision when we started in October 1985 was to keep and improve the quality of life for our friends, neighbors and newcomers to Huntsville. This included helping people see the benefit of saving our unique historic architectural heritage.
From the early 1970s, we worked as volunteers to preserve Huntsville’s historic homes and landmarks. It was fashionable then to “get rid of the old,” and many beautiful historic structures fell to the wrecking ball. It took years of effort and persistence, but the preservation community reversed the momentum, and Huntsville’s historic architecture is now one of its greatest cultural and tourism assets.
After many years as volunteer preservationists, we thought the time had come to extend that work into a new realm. We envisioned a business that could reach buyers who valued architectural heritage and had the means and stamina to preserve that heritage. Such a business also could help buyers and sellers achieve their own dreams in more modern neighborhoods surrounding the historic areas.
The first step was to develop a logo portraying this vision. What colors? We wanted a rich blue and black that would depict reliability, dependability and trust, such as banks use. Trying to explain this to an artist was difficult, and the result, while of high quality, was more modern in style than we wanted. But it was time to open, and the budget expended, so that was what we started with.
Within a few weeks, our advertising man at The Huntsville Times connected us with the head of their art department, Diane Strickland. She looked at a plaque that had been removed from downtown sidewalks being redone. It was an oval with the words “Van Valkenburgh & Cooper” from a long-ago business in Richard’s family.
It depicted longevity, stability and community commitment. Diane worked by hand, since graphic art was not yet done by computer. She constructed a logo and designed several versions, including reverse and various styles of type. She came up with the perfect one and she said it is still one of the hardest jobs she ever did.
We have been grateful to her ever since! We love our logo and it suits our business…From your first home…to your finest estate!
For all your real estate needs, contact us at 256-539-0505.And for Huntsville area real estate news, including fine and historic homes available across North Alabama, join the VV&W Facebook page, Instagram, and newsletter.