The United Media Guild decided to start off the new year with a new logo. Following our merger with Peoria, we stopped using the name, “St. Louis Newspaper Guild,” replacing it with the broader, more inclusive “United Media Guild.” And after adding bargaining units in Pekin, Peoria, Springfield, Rockford and Memphis, we knew our old Arch logo no longer 
worked either.
worked either.We approached noted cartoonist – and former State Journal-Register employee – Chris Britt and asked if he would design something for us. Chris had been part of the massive purge by GateHouse and couldn’t wait to help our cause. He asked what we were looking for and I said that we liked a fist, as the “many become one” theme works well for this local (we don’t just represent different cities, we represent members working for different types of employers: we now have newspapers, a television station, a digital news organization, a PR firm and some social justice organizations). There’s many different aspects to the UMG but we all share the same mission. We’ve also begun using a new slogan, “Fighting for journalism and the public good” with “public good” referencing our social justice members as well as our journalists.
Chris Britt sent back a prototype and everyone loved it. We particularly liked the way the fist formed the “UMG” initials. We then took it to Peace Printing where graphic artist Julie Dougherty made everything pop. But it was UMG’s own Aaron Burnett who came up with the idea of giving a nod to our union’s roots by placing a newspaper in the fist (that Aaron’s a pretty bright guy!). Anyway, here’s our new UMG logo – We hope you like it. Swag to follow!