The font “Aliens and Cows” and a simple rendering of an oak tree were enough to set apart Oak Harbor High School junior Brenna Rothman’s design apart from the approximately 25 other logos submitted to the Oak Harbor Poetry Project.
“It was difficult to choose because they submitted quite a large number,” said Laura Moore, co-founder of the Poetry Project.
“They were all so good.”
Moore approached advanced graphic design teacher Jana Jansen to describe the desires of the recently formed group, which features a local poet every month and allows an open mic to others wanting to share their work.
Moore said her and the group wanted to involve members of the city’s community, and they felt high school students would be a good fit for the project.
Jansen said she jumped on the opportunity to have to students work on designs with a real-world application.
“It’s super meaningful for the students if they don’t just work on fictional projects, but things that are going to be benefiting the community,” Jansen said.
The timing was right too, as this is the first year the high school has had an advanced graphic design class. Rothman is one of the eight students who decided to continue on with a second semester of the subject.
Everyone in the class created at least two designs to submit to the Poetry Project; Rothman made four. She said the winning one took her two class periods to get it perfect.
Rothman said she spent a long time trying to get the spacing on the letters exactly right.
“I’m really nit-picky about that kind of stuff,” she said. “It took a while to get it exactly how I wanted it.”
Jansen encouraged the students to support each other throughout the process, providing feedback and suggestions for each other’s work. Rothman said she appreciated the collaboration from her classmates.
“I was a little shocked,” she said of finding out her design was chosen.
“There are a lot of talented people in this class. I wasn’t expecting it, but I was very excited.”
Oak Harbor High School junior Brenna Rothman holds the logo she created for the Oak Harbor Poetry Project. The group chose her design out of around 25 submitted by the high school’s first advanced graphic design class. Photo by Laura Guido/Whidbey News-Times
