Graphic design student creates new logo for student publication

By Chelsea Weeks, Assistant Features Editor

Humans are very visual creatures and are accustomed to seeing different forms of marketing, logos and ads. A prominent logo on Oklahoma Baptist University’s campus would be that of the student paper, “The Bison.” However, this logo has recently received a new update.

“The Bison” issued for all students to design a new logo for the student paper. Over spring break, “The Bison” staff gathered all the entries and voted on the logo that best fit the paper.

“‘The Bison’ masthead hasn’t been updated in a number of years,” senior news and infomration major and editor-in-chief Lia Hillman said.

“The staff has been trying to be more creative with designing, and I think we wanted to just update the overall look of the paper.”

The artist who won the contest was sophomore graphics design major, Caleb Cole. Cole originally heard of the logo contest from his sister who read about it in “The Bison.”

“It sounded fun,” Cole said. “I enjoy making logos, and I like competition. Also, I always thought ‘The Bison’ could use an updated logo.”

During his process of creating the new logo, not only did he look at OBU’s image for inspiration, but also major newspaper logos like “Chicago Sun-Times,” “New York Post,” “USA Today,” “Daily Mail,” “The Wall Street Journal” and “The Independent.”

“While most newspapers have maintained a traditional look with old fashioned typography, some maintain a contemporary look using more modern typography,” Cole said. “I submitted three different logos and each variation used a different style of typography. The logo that won was the most contemporary of the three, and its design was influenced by newspaper logos like the ‘Chicago Sun-Times’ and ‘USA Today.’”

Cole started the process of designing the new logo by sketching out several different ideas and narrowing them down to the top three which he entered.

“I did drawings of the logo by hand, then later refined them in the computer,” Cole said. “The lettering was done completely in the computer, but the bison image was drawn by hand first, then remade digitally in the computer. The computer software I used was Adobe Illustrator.”

Cole remembers how he felt when he found out he won the contest.

“I was thrilled,” Cole said. “I had actually forgotten I entered the contest when I was told my design was chosen.”

What helped prepare him for the contest was the classes and mentorship that he has had while in the graphic design program.

“Studying graphic design definitely helped me create the logo for ‘The Bison,’” Cole said. “Creating logos is something graphic designers do all the time. OBU’s graphic design program is amazing, and I have learned so much about art and design.

“I am being trained to solve creative problems by great people like Corey Fuller, and I get to create stuff with awesome classmates.”

Although it may seem like a small change, the new logo for “The Bison” has potential to have a large impact on the OBU community.

“I hope it will cause students and faculty to read The Bison more,” Cole said.

“Maybe a fresh look will make others give ‘The Bison’ a second look.”