Instead of going to a design firm such as Lawrence and Schiller of Sioux Falls, the University of South Dakota's University Police Department decided to utilize the talents of USD graphic design students for the redesigning of their vehicles' logos.
"We got the new vehicles and then we were deciding on whether we were going to keep our old graphics or go with new graphics," UPD Officer Rick Johnson said, coordinator of the project. "We decided to go over to the fine arts, the graphics department over (at the Fine Arts building), to talk to them to see if they could help us out."
Dallas Schnack, assistant director of UPD, said the idea stemmed from the department's switch from the university's public safety to the police.
"Public safety is a little too general and police are what we are anyway so it helps to identify exactly who you're dealing with," Schnack said. "It kind of started with that and then from there we wanted to kind of change up our logo."
With the help of YoungAe Kim, assistant professor of graphic design, the UPD combined forces with USD's chapter of AIGA, a professional design association, to come up with new designs for the UPD vehicles.
"(The UPD project) was a volunteering opportunity to expose everyone who was interested in (AIGA)," Kim said. "Five students were interested in it and they were narrowed down to three to compete against each other."
She said the project was a good experience for the students to go beyond basic designing, but to be actually incorporating the designer-client relationship, a significant aspect of the profession.
"It's good to understand the client's side and what they're looking for," Kim said. "Having the communication in between, we can have better understanding of the (client's) needs and what they're looking for design wise and the message their trying to deliver on the surface."
The quality of the wide variety of styles and works submitted from the students were impressive, Johnson said, making the decision a difficult one.
"It was your very simple to very elaborate designs," he said. "They were all very good and it took us some time to decide which one we wanted to put on the cars."
The UPD ultimately chose senior Luke Egging's design because it incorporated both design aspects they were looking for: the use of USD red and a design that would complement both the Tahoes and Crown Victorias they drive, Schnack said.
"To me personally (the design we chose) looks very professional and basically does what it's supposed to do, letting people know we're the university police," Johnson said." I think it just flows real well with the vehicles."
Schnack, too, was impressed by the amount of effort the students put into their presentations and is sure the UPD will be utilizing them in the future, he said.
"(The students) put (their designs) on our specific cars so you could see exactly what it would look like on that car. It's kind of like a trying it on type of thing," Schnack said. "It was professional. They had (the designs) matted and everything, you couldn't have asked for a much better presentation than what they did."
Reach reporter Emma Murray at Emma.Murray@usd.edu
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