{"id":16769,"date":"2018-03-19T11:12:04","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T15:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/?p=16769"},"modified":"2018-03-19T11:12:04","modified_gmt":"2018-03-19T15:12:04","slug":"whats-in-a-logo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/2018\/03\/19\/whats-in-a-logo\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s in a logo?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Rhode Island School of Design graduate student Ellen Christensen says designing a new logo for the RI C-AIM initiative focused on depicting the collaboration between the eight higher education institutions to better understand the physical and chemical changes happening in Narragansett Bay’s waters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

RISD grad student develops logo for new RI C-AIM initiative<\/h3>\n

Ellen Christensen<\/strong>, a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, first scribbled sketches in her notebook. A new initiative through the Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR program needed a new logo. What would this new logo look like? What message should it convey?<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were terrible,\u201d laughs Christensen, a Richmond, Calif., native who will defend her MFA in Graphic Design this May. \u201cWe really wanted this logo to work for different types of people and institutions, and there were many different ways I would sketch that in the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new initiative is the Rhode Island Consortium for Coastal Ecology Assessment, Innovation and Modeling (RI C-AIM), a collaborative initiative developing a new scientific infrastructure to measure and respond to the changing waters of the bay.<\/p>\n

Neal Overstrom<\/strong>, director of RISD\u2019s Edna Lawrence Nature Lab, had first charged Christensen with the design, and over a two-month process they both deliberated with team members about the logo\u2019s details.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimplicity is often difficult to achieve, with a logo being a distillation of many complex ideas and elements to create a unified, visual identity,\u201d says Overstrom, who serves as a co-principal investigator on the RI C-AIM project, about the logo design process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was us as a four-person group talking in the original stages,\u201d adds Christensen of the collaboration, which included RISD EPSCoR Coordinator Lucia Monge<\/strong> and Dora Mugerwa<\/strong>, Operations & Engagement Coordinator at The Nature Lab. \u201cWe met every week, going through all these different iterations,\u201d she explains. \u201cThere were two main themes; the ideas of connection and [Narragansett] Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project is tapping into the expertise of scientists, designers, artists and students from eight higher education institutions across Rhode Island, from mathematicians and chemical engineers to graduates like Christensen, who is utilizing her creative sensibilities to give the RI-C-AIM logo more than a passing glance from the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want it\"\"<\/a> to feel really old-fashioned, but something fresh,\u201d she says. \u201cWe wanted the logo to work for a variety of different people and institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The logo depicts a circle with the letters \u2018RI-C-AIM\u2019 contained within. A stylized constellation sits behind the letters, symbolizing scientific collaboration among the eight institutions. A half-blue background represents the program\u2019s shared research setting of Narragansett Bay.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing that is interesting about the logo is the way the A is the networking target, getting at the idea of \u2018aiming\u2019,\u201d Christensen notes. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like X marks the spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that spot is turning Rhode Island into a \u2018center of excellence\u2019 for assessing, predicting and responding to the bay\u2019s changing physical ecosystems.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough this was just one collaborative project, it underscores the ways in which the perspectives of artists and designers bring complementary modes of inquiry to scientific research through studio-based studies,\u201d says Overstrom.<\/p>\n

Students like Christensen, who previously served as a communications graduate assistant for RI EPSCoR during the program\u2019s last award, are also gaining valuable experience in disciplines from graphic design to oceanography, honing their skills to pursue future career success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the professors at RISD are brilliant,\u201d she says. \u201cWe spend five hours a day talking about the nuances of every little detail. We are all going into the world observing, being really careful about what we see.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rhode Island School of Design is one of eight higher education institutions participating in RI-C-AIM, the annual symposium for which will take place on April 9 at the University of Rhode Island.<\/p>\n

The Rhode Island Consortium for Coastal Ecology Assessment, Innovation and Modeling is a five-year, $19 million initiative funded through the RI NSF EPSCoR program seeking to develop a technological infrastructure to predict and respond to the changing interactions between chemicals and lifeforms in the waters of Narragansett Bay.<\/em><\/p>\n

For more information, visit https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor.<\/a><\/p>\n

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RISD grad student develops logo for new RI C-AIM initiative Ellen Christensen, a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, first scribbled sketches in her notebook. A new initiative through the Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR program needed a new logo. What would this new logo look like? What message should it convey? \u201cThey were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1994,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15,21,36],"tags":[303,357,423,576,582,591,624,744],"class_list":["post-16769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-front-page-slider-post","category-news","category-risd","tag-graphic-design","tag-logo","tag-narragansett-bay","tag-ri-c-aim","tag-ri-nsf-epscor","tag-risd-nature-lab","tag-scientific-inquiry","tag-uri"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1994"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}