Crafton Hills Multimedia Students Participate in Logo Design Contest

Publish Date: May 26, 2020

Students enrolled in a Crafton Hills College (CHC) multimedia design class engaged in a contest funded by the CHC Foundation. The class was challenged to design a logo that could be used for the college's athletics program.

Athletics are new to Crafton Hills College, and began with men's and women's swim teams in Spring 2018 and water polo in Fall 2019. The College is looking for a new logo to identify CHC athletic teams.
 
Dr. Iris Kern-Foster incorporated the need for a logo as a project in her "Digital Illustration with Adobe Illustrator 1" class, allowing each student the opportunity to develop a concept and pitch it. This course is essential for each degree and certificate offered in Crafton's new multimedia program, which was introduced in Fall 2019. The course features hands-on instruction in digital illustration and its use in print and web-based media. The CHC Roadrunner Logo project has been used in ongoing instruction over the course of the semester.
 
"It is an exciting opportunity for students to practice a professional workflow, learning to revise based on client's feedback," said the course instructor, Dr. Iris Kern-Foster. "Students are incredibly supportive to each other and engaged in the process. In addition, students get to apply critical thinking skills and verbal presentation techniques to support their ideas."
 
The first stage was to conduct research on athletics team logos incorporating animals. Students then moved on to the ideation stage, exploring different design directions with thumbnail sketches based on direction provided by institutional advancement director Michelle Riggs and aquatics director Heather Chittenden. In the design phase, students developed logo design drafts in black and white, introducing color concepts a week later and refining them with feedback from classmates. Students tested the logo application on merchandise design, making modifications as needed. The last step was to create full sets of color and size variations for the logo.
 
The final class designs were presented to CHC president Dr. Kevin Horan on May 7 during the class meeting on Zoom. The creativity and individualism of each student's design was commended by Horan who selected the contest winners. The first-place design was created by Young Song. The second-place designer is Savannah Padilla, and third is Ariana Allen. Honorable mentions are Fernando Flores and Mariah Rojas. The Foundation will award first, second and third place designers with $500, $300 and $200, respectively. The athletics department will continue to work with the multimedia program next semester to further develop the logo designs.
 
For more information about CHC athletics, contact Heather Chittenden at hchittenden@craftonhills.edu. For more information about the CHC multimedia program, contact assistant professor for multimedia and faculty lead for Center for Digital Media Dr. Iris Kern-Foster at ifoster@craftonhills.edu. For more information about Crafton Hills College, visit www.craftonhills.edu.
 
The winning logo designs are pictured below. First place is Young Song, second place is Savannah Padilla, and third place is Ariana Allen.