After looking at other classes’ senior gifts with wide-eyed underclassman wonder, I tore open the envelope containing information about the gift from the class of 2011 with fervor.
And it’s… a mural of the Gannon logo on A.J.’s Way?
Come on. We could be so much more creative than that. I’ll be donating to Gannon, but I regret to announce I just don’t believe in the class gift enough to throw my money toward it.
I see the Gannon logo every time a student organization slaps some 60-point Curlz MT text on a T-shirt, throws a Gannon sunburst on the back and calls it good design.
The array of Gannon logos are great for branding purposes; don’t get me wrong. The viewbooks in the Admissions office look more approachable, more – dare I say it – cool than they ever did when I was applying here for college.
But keep the logo churnin’ from the marketing office, not from student-produced art projects. Keep the Gannon logo on Styrofoam cups and Gannon Bookstore bags, and make the senior gift something more creative, more organic to the student body. We can come up with a better idea than slapping the Gannon logo on a wall.
Plus, logos are supposed to change every so often as an organization changes and needs a new look. How is that mural on A.J.’s Way going to look in 10 or 15 years, when Gannon adopts a new branding strategy?
Students will laugh at its antiquated look, the same way I do when I see one of those old-school, boxy Doritos trucks delivering snacks to someplace about town, or the old Pepsi logo on a long-forgotten, dusty vending machine. When an outdated logo is still on display, it just looks… off. And I don’t want my senior gift to be “off.”
Disclaimer: This isn’t, by any means, a criticism of the amount of effort the senior representatives or the committee has put into brainstorming, planning and executing the senior gift. They put a lot of time into their projects.
But I wish the committee would have consulted with the students in one of the many graphic design courses sponsored by the Department of Theatre, Communication and Fine Arts, to possibly turn the mural design into a contest. A mural depicting the Gannon arch, an artistic interpretation of a Bible verse or a scenic image of Presque Isle would all be great mural material.
Or maybe we should explore options that offer a more tangible effect on the university. A roof garden on Zurn or Palumbo could help offset our campus’ carbon footprint – not to mention garner some great publicity for Gannon.
Antlers could use some financial help for furniture or lighting to help transform its look once Gannon takes it over, and how cool would it be if the class of 2011 helped kick-start that project?
The “possibilities,” as we’re often told, are endless – and I believe in those more than I believe that painting the Gannon logo on a blank wall on A.J.’s Way is a good idea.
