Illinois Student Government adapted a new, student-designed logo in an effort to consolidate with the University’s implementation of the block I design.

Joseph Domanski, vice president of ISG and senior in LAS, said the University “felt like our logo was totally out of date.” The University recently switched from using the column I to only the block I.

The University’s public affairs committee asked ISG to change the logo to fit with the rebranding of the University, Domanski said.

“We have created a brand standard and some guidelines that allows our brand to function across the entire institution,” said David Black, director of creative services in the public affairs department.

Black said the guidelines were created to reflect a single voice of Illinois.

“We want the student government to brand with Illinois to show that they have a vital relationship to the University,”  Black said.

Black said one of those guidelines is that the block I and the Illinois wordmark can not be skewed or adjusted and they can not be morphed with anything else.

“I felt like the University of Illinois student government is supposed to be the voice of the student body, so I felt like it made sense for the student body to have a say in what we look like,” Domanski said. “At the end of the day, we are here because of them, not because of us”

Domanski said that the logos were narrowed down to six in the ISG’s public relations committee. The logos were then presented to the senate and they voted on the logo they want to represent the organization.

“(The logo is used on) anything that we hand out to the student body that we want to make sure they understand where they came from, we want to make sure we put our logo on it,” said David Alston, sophomore in Business.

Alston said ISG wanted to give students creative control of the logo.

“We weren’t looking for anything specific. What we were looking for is something that would generally represent the government in a good way,” Alston said.

Domanski said ISG placed guidelines on their website. The guidelines included things such as: you cannot have the column I, cannot reference any previous mascot, cannot depict a well-known person and cannot include text other than Illinois Student Government.

The logo winner is Brittany Heyen, senior in FAA. Heyen said she entered the competition after a friend had mentioned it to her.

“I thought it would be a great way to leave my mark before I graduate in the spring and use my graphic design skills to help out an organization looking to rebrand itself,” Heyen said  in an email.

Heyen said she talked to people who had been in ISG to find out what the group meant to them. She said that every person she talked to had the same idea of incorporating a building or landmark.

Heyen ended up choosing Foellinger Auditorium as the landmark she wanted to use in the design.

Heyen said that not only is it the largest lecture hall on campus where students quite literally come together to learn, but it’s also the backdrop of the Main Quad. This serves as a place for students to come together for both recreation and relaxation.

“After changing our name to student government, we felt like a new organization and we wanted a fresh start, and the logo represents that fresh start,” Alston said.

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