Attempts to redesign the city’s seal (at left) have been unsuccessful. But that doesn’t mean the issue is resolved.
The Palm Desert City Council indicated recently it would move forward with adding municipal code language governing use of the city's logo and seal, following two failed attempts to redesign the official seal and a debate over whether the existing image still reflects the community.
Thomas Soule, the city's public affairs manager, told the council that the logo — developed more than a decade ago primarily for tourism marketing — has expanded into broader everyday use, prompting the need for formal code language to govern how and by whom it can be used.
"We decided that as we're using it more and more, as it's becoming more visible, that it was time to codify this in the municipal code and get some language in there about how it can be used, who can use it," Soule said.
The city seal, by contrast, is already protected under the municipal code and is reserved for official documents including oaths of office, proclamations, resolutions and ordinances.
The move to codify logo use also raised a related question: whether the council wanted to pursue another effort to redesign the official city seal, which depicts a golfer, a tennis player and a bighorn sheep and has been in use since the city's founding in 1973.
The city has twice attempted a redesign without success. In 2023, a hired designer produced options that did not gain enough support to be formally proposed to the council. In 2025, a student design contest drawing from art schools and universities across Southern California also produced no submissions that were forwarded for council consideration.
Soule said a third attempt could involve a nationwide and international request for qualifications from artists, with finalists selected to produce concepts that could then go to a public vote.
Councilmember Jan Harnik argued forcefully for pursuing a redesign, saying the current seal fails to represent the full breadth of the community.
"We are not just golfers and tennis players in Palm Desert," Harnik said. "There's no bike riders in there, there's no children going to school there, there's no people going to the library there."
Harnik drew a comparison to the council's willingness to invest in other updates to city assets, including the renovation of the council chambers and the ongoing library project.
"This is clip art, and it looks dated. It doesn't share the character and elegance of Palm Desert."
"We're spending how much on a library because we wanted to update it," Harnik said. "This is an investment in the branding, in the character of who this city is."
Harnik also pointed to seals used by other cities in the 47th Assembly District, saying those designs focus on natural environments rather than specific recreational activities and convey a more inclusive identity.
"This is clip art, and it looks dated," Harnik said. "It doesn't share the character and elegance of Palm Desert."
She added: "It's 50 years. Tell me what else after 50 years doesn't need a little love, a little updating."
Other council members were less persuaded. Mayor Evan Trubee said he has no objection to the existing seal and prefers to leave it unchanged while formalizing its proper use in code.
"I think it's good to pay homage to your origin story," Trubee said. "I kind of like that. It feels like 1973 when the city was founded."
Mayor Pro Tem Joe Pradetto agreed, giving direction to staff to look into codifying usage of the logo and seal without pursuing a redesign.
No formal vote was taken during the study session where the issue was raised. Rather, councilmembers gave direction to staff to return with an update to the code surrounding use of the logo.