Creating a Logo: Designing for the DS Lab

Please enjoy a blog post on the process of designing a logo from Natalie, one of our Digital Scholarship tutors.

I was perusing the library website when I noticed the DSLab logo. I thought it was an interesting design, but I felt it was a broad depiction of what the lab actually stood for.

The Digital Scholarship Lab stands for teaching the future generations how to incorporate technology and learning into their everyday life. I felt our logo should stand for that as well. So, I immediately laid out a sketch and came up with the idea of a virtual tree with a student under it.

To find images to edit I used the free icon hosting website “The Noun Project” (https://thenounproject.com/) . The website hosts over 1 million icons that are royalty-free and editable. It gives a designer a headstart when they need to draft an icon or logo together quickly.

I eventually found two images I thought were easily editable and looked great together.

I imported these two images as PNGs into Adobe Illustrator. I used the outline tool to select and delete the arrow in the tech tree. I also used the outline tool on both the reader and the tree to separate each component of the icons. In doing this, I was able to add color to the different parts of each, and I used the official Marquette color palette to do so. I then added text in Marquette’s official font- Avenir Next, and curved it slightly at the top so that it drapes around the logo.

Any business or educator should have a logo that tells the viewer (or potential student/customer) exactly what they stand for, and what the viewer will receive from them. In doing this, an educator will portray that they take pride in their image and will seem more professional and put-together than the next one. The logo also creates the brand, and the brand is the personality of the company. When an educator has a brand, they are more likely to attract people that are like-minded therefor growing their presence and the awareness of their message.

In creating this logo, I had creating a presence and a brand for the lab in mind. I believe the Digital scholarship provides resources a lot of students don’t even know we have and in creating a recognizable and straight-forward logo, more students will come to the lab for help or even just to utilize the products we provide.

When students see this logo, they should associate it with the basement of Raynor and the creative programs and resources that are located there. They will also associate it with the integration of technology and education that is part of the labs mission. Hopefully, this logo will propel the lab’s presence on campus and will aid in propelling the creativity of the students on campus as well.