2019 Undergrad Research Symposium

A design case study

Every year, Loyola Marymount University hosts an Undergraduate Research Symposium to showcase student academic and creative work. I was part of a team of two who was responsible for creating the branding for this annual event. After 20 + iterations, we finally designed a logo, then during the next four months we applied this branding to other print and digital marketing assets.

The previous years logos were very bright and flat. In 2018, the design team introduced a more 3D aesthetic and a darker color scheme. With our logo we wanted to create something that had a mix of all previous years.

The inspiration really came from looking at past logos but also figuring out what trends to focus on. We knew gradients were a huge part of the design culture in 2018-19 so we decided to go with a gradient. We also liked the idea of flat design because it allowed our aesthetic to match with LMU's new rebrand as a university.

After ideating for a few weeks, we decided on these two. The road was my design and after a few adjustments, we made it the design for the 2019 symposium.

The colors we chose were inspired by the sunsets many southern Californian's enjoy every evening. LMU is situated on a bluff that overlooks Playa Vista so we found it fitting to include a color scheme that resembled the beauty of our university and it's surrounding landscape.

The final logo was inspired by a metaphor of a road. As student researches and anyone involved with academia, we often are discouraged by the long road ahead of us. However, it's through moving forward and following an often curvy road, that we uncover the courage and perseverance needed to uncover meaningful insights. This idea allowed us to arrive at this final logo design.