SSCC announces new college logo design

After poring over nearly 4,000 submissions, Southern State Community College has chosen its new logo, which will be a cornerstone to its rebranding initiative, with the new look representing the many changes and new directions of SSCC.

And the creator behind the new look had a surprisingly local connection.

Dr. Nicole Roades, Vice President of Institutional Advancement, presented the new logo to the college's board of trustees during their April meeting in Fayette Campus Wednesday. 

Roades said the rebranding initiative was about "re-envisioning the image of Southern State Community College," and she provided the board with a "sneak peek" at what the rebranding team has been working on. 

The current SSCC logo has been in use since the early 1990s, she said, and they wanted a more modern logo that could take the college in its new direction. While they wanted a "fresh" image, Roades said they wanted a classic look that would be usable well into the future and represent the college's new strategic vision: Your First-Choice College.

Implementing the new brand and logo will coincide with SSCC's conversion to semesters this fall. 

The rebranding "dream team" created an online logo design contest with the company 99 designs, which utilizes crowdsourcing "to tap into the collective talent/intelligence/resources of the public at large," according to Roades. 

Offering a prize of $2,012 to the winner, Roades said crowdsourcing allowed the college to begin rebranding without spending thousands of dollars by hiring a design firm. 

SSCC received 3,755 entries from 923 designers during the weeklong contest. 

"We received a huge response," Roades said. "There were hundreds of designs submitted each day for a week."

SSCC President Dr. Kevin Boys said other colleges will spend upwards of $200,000 for a new logo. 

Roades said the rebranding "dream team," which includes director of marketing Elizabeth Burkard, director of public relations Kris Cross and webmaster Jesse Pertuset, spent days poring over the entries, narrowing it down to six final logos. The designs were then posted online for an informal survey, where the winner was ultimately selected. 

The team wanted a design that would allow them to market the different ideas of the college's various departments and campus, while keeping them all unified under the SSCC umbrella without feeling fractured. 

"We're responding to the community and to the changing nature of Southern State," Roades said. 

The new design will also incorporate a five-color palette of red, blue, green, orange and black. Roades said that adds more versatility to how they can utilize the logo and can be a representation of five campuses. 

Those who voted on the design she said either really loved the winning selection or did not like the design at all. 

"The people who liked it really liked it and gave reasons why they liked it. Or, they just hated it," Roades said. 

Featuring block graphic letters spelling out Southern State Community College along with an image of the state of Ohio, Roades said the team considered the design only. After the fact, they looked at the designer. 

"We were not paying attention to who the designer was," she said. "With (nearly 4,000) entries, we couldn't. We wanted to just find the best design."

When the final selection was made, the team realized that the winning entry was from a designer who lives in Southern State's five-county service area. 

Jared Raines, of Peebles, is a 2006 graduate of Shawnee State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts and visual design. He is a graphic designer at Kaleidoscope in Cincinnati and is the founder and lead designer of Design by Solo. 

"We did not disclose that this was a local submission," said Roades, who is also a Peebles native. "I think that speaks volumes about what this college is all about. (Raines) explained how he got to this design, to explain the symbolism. No other designer put in that much thought. I think it is poetic that the creator was local."

In addition to the logo and brand promise, Roades said there are many more elements to come that will be announced over the coming months.

Board president Dr. Vicki Wilson commended the rebranding team on their work and said, "the product is wonderful, but the process is fascinating." 

"We will be ready for implementation for fall recruitment this summer," Roades said.