Many of the logos for school activities and sports are designed by the Graphic Design class. In this class, the students focus on channeling their creative energy to produce works of art as a way to represent a sport or an activity. 

According to graphic design teacher Sara Farrell, one of her main goals in the class is to give her students real world projects as much as possible. She believes that by having her students go through the on how to make a logo are great opportunities for her students to learn and to grow as designers. 

“It gives them the opportunity to go through the design process,” Farell said. “Not just have it for a project of their own, but to use it for a real world project that is displayed around the school.”

To make a logo for their project, the students start by gathering research from their clients, usually coaches or teachers. After that, they spend a week working on sketches and designs before then digitizing them using Adobe Illustrator. The students go through peer edits to revise and, once they are done, they present the client with the creation.

According to senior Jack Sanford, students feel that this gives them a great opportunity to learn and practice. They learn how to act when it comes to the professional world when interacting with their clients. If they make a mistake, they treat it as a learning experience.

“I’m not worried messing up with these projects that clients give us because it’s just a class,” senior Jack Sanford said. 

According to Sanford, he believes that one of the more beneficial aspects to graphic design is the fact that there is no right answer. Students are able to let their creativity flow.

Students tend to get their designs in different ways, one way being Pinterest, according to senior Kelly Svetlichniy. If they like the design they see, the students take inspiration and create their own design from it. Another way that they get ideas is to bounce ideas off of one another.

“Sometimes if [the clients] don’t like the work, I just delete the whole thing,” senior Kelly Svetlichniy said. “I start from scratch with them and all their ideas.”

Another thing that students note is understanding that many clients and students themselves have different opinions of what the outcome should look like. Therefore, students learn a lot about constructive criticism. 

“You need to have a balance between an ego and being able to take criticism because you want to feel good about what you put out,” Sanford said. “You also need to take criticism because everyone else thinks differently.” 

According to Farell, recently, clubs and sports have been reaching out to Graphic Design to create logos, such as Svetlichniy designing a Little Bison logo for the class. The graphics classes also created the tickets for Homecoming, Prom and Graduation. The classboard will vote on which design they want to use for each event. 

Svetlichniy is planning to go to Bradley University to study graphic design. Sanford is also planning on majoring in graphic design. This class has helped improve their enjoyment of graphic design. 

“I learn something new everyday in this class,”Svetlichniy said.  “That is what I love about graphic design.”

With all of this experience that the students are gaining from this class, students feel prepared for the future with their new profound skills of being professional and being creative. 

“I love that teachers, coaches and administrators use our class as a resource for that.”  Farrell said. “I think it’s an awesome way for kids to connect with the school.”