Lipscomb logo contest fires up local design community

Janel Shoun | 

Event brings city’s design community together

Nashville’s design community came out in force to participate in Lipscomb University’s first annual logo design contest and the second Presidential Lectureships for Art and Art History, featuring well-known graphic design educator Kim Elam.

More than 200 people in the design field and design education attended the November event, and almost 60 designers entered 129 logo designs, more than the first-time event coordinators ever expected.

“We’ve already got people asking when next year’s event will be,” said Laura Lake Smith, chair of Lipscomb’s Department of Art, which established the Presidential Lectureship for Art and Art History this fall. “For the first year, we had a great turn-out.”

Some attendees came from as far away as Memphis to hear the fresh ideas of Elam, head of the Graphic and Interactive Communication Department at Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla., and author of Typographic Systems of Design.

Award of Excellence in Logo Design

The Advent Displays and Designs, Nashville Chamber of Commerce, Create Magazine, Midtown Printing, AIGA and Apple Computer came together with Lipscomb to award the first annual Award of Excellence in Logo Design. Winners were announced in four categories:

Matthew Lehman, of Invisible Associates, won the best overall category for his Penguin Creative logo.

Chris Ward, of Thomas Nelson Publishing, won the best typography category for his Buckley’s Original logo.

Matthew Rogers, of Primarily Rye, LLC, won in the best icon and people’s choice categories for his Cotton West logo.

“We had a great mixture of free-lance designers, advertising agencies, publishing houses and university creative departments,” said Amanda Van Noordt, Advent’s event coordinator who worked with Lipscomb’s Department of Art to plan the contest and awards reception.

“It really succeeded in bringing the design community together. I even got e-mails after the awards from people interested in entering. It was a one-of-a-kind event.”

Fifty-eight designers submitted 129 designs, ranging from classic to modern looks, Van Noordt said. “There were fresh designs from people with a younger perspective and mature, cultured designs that will hold up for many years to come,” she said.

Winners were awarded more than $2,000 in prizes, a Mac Book and iPod Nanos, thanks to the generosity of the endorsing companies, Smith noted.

Elam continues impressive debut for Lipscomb’s new lecture series

Kim Elam was only the second speaker in Lipscomb’s Presidential Lectureships for Art and Art History, kicked off by James Elkins, art historian at the Chicago Institute of Art, in September.

“When it comes to design education, she’s at the top,” said Cliff Tierney, graphic design assistant professor at Lipscomb. “She’s ranked with designers in New York; she has lived and breathed graphic design her whole life.”

And her ability to come up with fresh ideas from the traditional design system spoke positively to many students and professionals in the audience, Tierney said.

“That’s what we want to do (with the lecture series) – bring expertise to our campus,
and let people know we are a valuable artistic resource in the community,” he said.