Richmond's new visual identity, RVA, is both a tech-forward hashtag and a blank canvas on which Civil War re-enactors and startup entrepreneurs alike are invited to project their own ideas about the city’s creativity.

The brand was designed by students at the Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter, the university’s top-tier advertising school.

The new look coincides with some big changes in Richmond. Over the past several years, this old Dixie redoubt--the former seat of the Confederacy and the heart of Colonial America--had been quietly transforming into a creative hub, where eclectic interests from indie music to mountain biking to biotechnology, collide.

Not everyone was thrilled with the idea of updating Richmond's identity. “There are some people, very significant leaders in the Richmond area, who felt like, ‘No it’s not about creativity, it’s about history,’” says the Brandcenter's former managing director Kelly O’Keefe.

So the students decided to create a logo, which shows that creativity takes many forms and that, in fact, Richmond’s history has been defined by creativity.

The students developed an online logo generator that allows anyone to upload their own images into the letters "RVA."

Even us!

Keep clicking through our slideshow for more examples of the many faces of RVA. The complete gallery is available here.