ASU's Publications and Creative Services
group wins grand prize at CASE conference

April 16, 2009 -- Arkansas State University’s Publications and Creative Services staff walked away with the Grand Award for logo design at the District IV conference meeting of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel in Oklahoma City, Okla., April 4-8.

The Red Wolf logo by designers and artists Mark Reeves, Mary Williams, Heath Kelly, and Michael Johnson was cited as the winner. This marks the third time Looney’s staff has taken the Grand Award. In 1980, Publications and Creative Services won the Special Communications Programs category for “Convocation of Scholars.”  In 2007, the group won for “Powering Minds” in the branding image category.

“It was a collaborative effort of all of the staff,” said executive director of Publications and Creative Services Ron Looney. “This design is the result of a lot of input by numerous people and dates back to the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) request that schools with Native American mascots make a change.”

Looney said the Red Wolf logo met the criteria for logo design, which includes design elements and content. The other level winners are Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for the second-place Award of Excellence for graphic mark; Southern Methodist University finished third in the Achievement Award for its campaign logo, “SMU Unbridled;” and Abilene Christian was fourth in the Special Award group for “Big Purple Marching Band.”

In March 2008, a roll-out ceremony was held for ASU’s newly-adopted mascot, the Red Wolves. Looney noted that the decision to make the change from “Indians” to “Red Wolves” was made at every level, including a broad-based mascot selection steering committee which was charged with gathering ideas for a new mascot from students, alumni, student-athletes, and members of the community.

“The Red Wolf design is strong and powerful enough to sell itself and did so quickly,” continued Looney. “It has strong enough ties to the previous name “Indians” that vendors found items with the Red Wolf logo sold very quickly. It’s a good replacement. We believe our alumni, students, and the community accept it. Everyone deserves credit for the Red Wolves’ success.”
 

###