German Village is working on a new look.

The German Village Society’s marketing committee has embarked on a rebranding effort intended to get a more consistent look for literature used to promote the historic neighborhood.

“You want everything to speak with the same voice, look and feel so you get the maximum benefit from it,” said Beth Ervin, chair of the marketing committee and member of the GVS board of trustees.

The trouble was, Ervin said, that brochures, maps and other communications lacked a unifying theme.

“We wanted a balance between historic and contemporary,” she said. “That’s one of the major things that came out of the discussion — the pieces either made it look like it was coming out of a museum or totally modern. There really was not much consistent about it that would say, ‘German Village.’”

Now, the society has guidelines to follow regarding the use of the society logo, fonts, color palette and graphic elements.

One outstanding issue is a complete redesign of a new logo, which currently features a rectangular façade with a slanted top and an open door at the bottom tagged with “Character lives on,” the new slogan of this year’s Haus und Garten Tour. Ervin said it has not been permanently adopted for the GVS.

The previous German Village image, which still will be used as a secondary emblem, has an eagle with its wings spread, similar to the German coat of arms. Shiloh Todorov, director of the GVS, said the icon will be reworked to include something inherently German Village, such as a slate roof, small porch or a flower box.

Todorov said the guidelines are particularly helpful for the society, which is run largely by volunteers on many committees and they have their own ideas on the look of promotional material.

“I am so excited to have this set of guidelines to refer to and unify our look as a neighborhood, because I think what the branding does, in addition to unifying the look, is to have us think of ourselves as a neighborhood rather than the German Village Society and German Village Business Community and whatever other entities exist,” she said.