One year after getting a new name, the Haines Sheldon Museum is on the hunt for a new logo.

A month-long contest offers $300 for a new design. Anyone can enter.

The museum has had as many as a half-dozen logos over the years, including one that displayed a museum sign formerly located on the facility’s lawn. The current logo features a “tinaa,” a form of Tlingit currency, floating inside the “o” in the museum’s previous name, “Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center.”

Community coordinator Madeline Witek said a new logo is a way of “refreshing the musuem’s identity.” The previous design, she said, was obscure. “People look at the tinaa and they don’t know what it is. The shape wasn’t exaggerated to the point where people would ask about it.”

More people associate Chilkat blankets with the museum, she said, but it’s difficult choosing a single element since the museum profiles Native and non-Native culture. “I want to see what people associate with the museum,” Witek said.

She recommends designers start with a simple design. “It should be instantly recognizable no matter what its size,” Witek said. Designs should be in black and white and submitted as a PDF file. They should be emailed to [email protected].

Witek said the museum can help participants who need help creating a PDF file. Call 766-2366.

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