Graphic Designer & Illustrator
Mock up of possible business card design for SGPS.
Vector of the three created logos for SGPS: the primary logo (featuring the university's name), the secondary logo (using only SGPS name), and a social media icon.
Mock up of possible business card design for SGPS.
Graduate School Logo Design
Adobe Illustrator, 2020
Professional Practice in Graphic Design
For the final project in my Professional Practice in Graphic Design Course, my class was tasked with re-branding the School of Graduate and Professional Studies (SGPS) at our university, Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU).
As a group, we met with the Dean Manohar of SGPS and had a Q&A about the project. After the meeting, we each individually designed and pitched our designs 1-on-1 with the dean. Based on feedback from both meetings, we individually presented a final logo to Dean Manohar and other representatives of SGPS. The student who designed the logo picked for use by SGPS, would be hired by the university to continue working on the new design and roll-out.
Southern Connecticut
State University (SCSU)
There are a number of logos used across the university (two versions of the primary logo are pictured right). The primary logo features a column that symbolizes Southern as an institution of higher education with the SCSU initials configured to complete visually the column's shaft.
I researched other university graduate programs to compare the designs of the undergraduate program and the graduate program. To create a cohesive brand identity between the university and graduate school, the logos for the two schools are similar in form, color, and font.
Graduate School Logo Sketch
Graphite and Ink
I wanted my logo to illustrate to current students and alumni at SCSU that the graduate programs offered could help build upon the higher education foundation they have already built.
I designed a logo for SGPS that, like the SCSU logo, uses an architectural element, the pediment, and the initials for the graduate program to complete the horizontal structure. Inside the pediment, I drew the image of a sunburst, a common theme in classical architecture, symbolizing a brighter future. When paired with the SCSU column, the two make a complete architectural form. Just like the two logos, students could complete their higher education and achieve a brighter future by enrolling in the SGPS.
After pitching several designs to the class and Dean Manohar, I moved forward with the pediment logo and began rendering it in Illustrator.
Vectoring the Sketch
Adobe Illustrator
I found the official SCSU logo style guide online. Using the guide, I was able to match the font and the Pantone color of my logo with the university's official logo. The style guide also gave me some insight into the thought process behind the layout and spacing of the official SCSU logo that I could apply to my design.
Using the pen tool and a base layer of my sketch, I made several versions of the pediment logo in Illustrator. I experimented with different font weights, color inversions, and a few different approaches to the sunrise in the pediment.
After settling on a final version of the logo, I realized that I had not thought about where to place the university name. In the official SCSU logo, the initials for the university are placed under the column and the full university name to the right of the column. Both words are easy to read because they are separated by the column. I needed to create a design that made both the initials and full university name legable.
Versions of Logo and Name
Adobe Illustrator
When placed to the right of the pediment logo, the graduate school name runs into the initials for the school making it difficult to read. I needed to find a solution to separate them. I started by adding a line between the two words, but adding another element made the whole image feel more disjointed.
I started incorporating the column logo into the pediment logo since my initial plan was for the two logos to make one complete architectural form.
By extending the column and adding a base, I could complete the architectural form and create a space to incorporate the full university name and the full name of the graduate school.
Mock up of possible business card design for SGPS.
Vector of the three created logos for SGPS: the primary logo (featuring the university's name), the secondary logo (using only SGPS name), and a social media icon.
Mock up of possible business card design for SGPS.
Conclusion
I ended up making two versions of the SGPS pediment logo. The preliminary version of the logo uses the full name of both the graduate school and the university to be used in more formal documents (business cards and letterhead). The secondary version uses the initials SGPS inside the pediment and the full graduate school name separated by the SCSU column. The secondary version is more informal and can be used for social media icons.
I presented the final logo designs to representatives of the SGPS and my Professional Practice in Graphic Design class. At the end of the semester, I was contacted by the SGPS, and was hired along with another student to continue working on the logo design over the summer. We were tasked with combining our designs into a new seal for the university and a new logo for the university's social media accounts.