This year, Sierra Finn—a talented, senior graphic design major—used her creativity to design the THON logo, as a class project. After hours of developing and tweaking a logo that she believed best represented the theme, Brighten Every Journey, Sierra’s design was chosen to be used as the official logo. This year though, not only did Sierra design the THON logo, but she is also a member of the Her Campus staff—using her artist eye to take pictures each week for our photo blog—so we were lucky enough to get a better understanding of the thought process that went into the making of the logo.
HC: Where did you get the inspiration for the logo?
Sierra: At first we were given this year’s theme, Brighten Every Journey. After that, I just had to figure out what that theme meant both to me personally and to everyone that THON affects. I thought about what the theme would mean to the kids and the families and worked to come up with an image that they could relate to and connect with. I focused not only on how we can fight to brighten the journey for the kids, but how they can brighten the journey for others as well. It was interesting to try to express those feelings of camaraderie and exploration through my logo. Every journey is different, but the outcome can always be brighter if we work together.
HC: How did you decide on the color scheme?
Sierra: There was a lot of going back and forth with the choice of colors. It’s necessary to get the mood just right, and the colors really effect that. I definitely wanted it to stand out from past years logos, and the bold yellow, with the contrast of dark blue really helps with that. The setting sun is shown in yellow, casting warmth on the children and providing a backdrop for them. The sun glowing behind the children provides us with their silhouettes, which appear in the dark blue. It came down to a lot of tweaking to find the most appropriate and impactful colors to create a strong overall design.
HC: How long did you work on the logo?
Sierra: The whole process from when we were given the theme to when we gave the designs to the Overall committee lasted about three to four weeks. It starts with coming up with a concept—the idea behind the whole logo—and then beginning sketches. After rough sketches and defining exactly what we want to happen, we move to the computer and work to make a polished and simplified logo. Since the opportunity was given to us through our senior graphic design class, we had several class critiques and continued to improve them until it was time to hand them over for judging.
HC: What did it mean to have your logo chosen?
Sierra: I’m not going to lie, I was shocked when I heard mine was picked, but I couldn’t have been more honored. My classmates had created a lot of really great logos, so I knew there was strong competition. It’s a really great experience to actually have a project come to life. For the most part, in college all of your projects get put into your portfolio and nothing reaches an audience, until you’re in the professional world. So, it’s really eye-opening to get a glimpse of how it happens and it’s crazy to see so many people walking around with something I created on their t-shirt. But, the best part is that everyone can look at it, give it their own meaning, and create their own story of what this logo, this theme, this THON means to them.
HC: What is it like to see your logo mass produced?
Sierra: It’s nothing like I expected. The reveal of the logo at the Family Carnival was probably the most exciting because when they pulled the tarp off, the logo was practically 20 feet tall. In classes, they talk about making sure your logo works both small scale and large scale, but I never imagined seeing it just that large.