By Amanda Hunt
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The new Pima County campus finally has an identity.
An identity mark for the campus, developed by a University of Arizona student, will move along with the staff to the temporary location at 101 S. Stone Ave.
A UA graphic design class was commissioned to design a temporary logo as part of a class assignment last semester. The identity mark will be used until the Arizona Board of Regents names the institution.
The students were asked to come up with a design that would combine the student-oriented liberal arts campus with global ideals, the environment and the community.
With this in mind, Shari Rykowski, studio arts junior, started with the idea of an open book, because that is the basis of a learning institution, she said. The semicircular logo also resembles a sunset and the solid half of the arc depicts the notion of time, she said.
"It was a really tough assignment because we didn't have much of anything to go on," Rykowski said. The class was given certain boundaries to work within, based on the mission of the new campus, she said.
Rykowski said her design is a "symbol of stability," while being contemporary and timeless. The logo will be rendered in copper with a dark green print for the name.
A press release from Celestino Fernandez, executive vice president and provost of the new college, states, "The decision was not easy. The students' creativity was evident in all of the designs. We chose Ms. Rykowski's logo because of its simplicity, elegance and the fact that it best captured the essence of the new campus."
The other five finalists designs had a more futuristic quality, Rykowski said.
Most of the assignments in Jackson Boelts' graphic design class are done for clients, primarily the UA. Rykowski said it was a worthwhile assignment because it was realistic.
"Once you are working with clients, you have to learn to appease them ... and go by their expectations," she said.
Rykowski received a monetary award and Boelts' class received financial assistance toward a new class computer.
Fernandez said, "(The project) is a symbol of our intent to work very close with students in developing the new campus."