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CSM Centennial

Student-created Centennial Logo Celebrates CSM’s 2022 Birthday

Ryan Kelley’s winning design for digital media class is top vote-getter among four finalists

A special, student-designed centennial logo was unveiled in June 2021 that will soon grace campus websites, signage and merchandise as College of San Mateo prepares to celebrate its 100th birthday in 2022.

Ryan Kelley, a design major from San Mateo, created the new logo as part of an internship course led by digital media Professor Vera Fainshtein. Kelley’s design features CSM’s distinctive College Center building set off by birthday fireworks. It was the top vote-getter among four finalists chosen by David McLain, CSM's Director of Community Relations & Marketing, from 10 entries submitted by Fainshtein’s class.

CSM students, staff and a Centennial Committee of business and community leaders voted to select the winner from designs by student finalists Kelley, Bryan Bowman, Wilhelm Habla and Katherine Moudry.

“I took inspiration from the old college seal logo from the 1960s, but I put a more modern spin on it,” Kelley said. “Building 10 is one of the more recognizable modern buildings at the school. For a little festive spin, I added the fireworks.”

The project was meant to give students real-world experience in working with a client. “It’s an excellent educational tool,” Fainshtein said.

Entrants were asked to learn more about CSM, the history of the college, its marketing messaging and style guidelines, and the objective of the centennial celebration. They took into consideration how the logo will be used and reviewed other college and centennial logos for guidance. They then sketched ideas – first on paper, then digitally – and met individually with McLain for feedback.

“The logos had to be friendly,” Fainshtein said. “They had to show tradition. They had to clearly look like an extension of the existing brand. And they had to have recognizable visual elements so people would know right away this was CSM.”

CSM Centennial Logo
CSM Centennial Logo
Ryan Kelley, CSM Centennial Logo Designer
Ryan Kelley, designer of the CSM Centennial Logo

Said Habla: “The hardest part was to make it clean and simple while still having necessary details.”

Fainshtein said the project and assignments like it are capstones for both the Associate of Arts and certificate programs in design at CSM. Students take Intro to Graphic Design, typography, intermediate design, Design for Print and Screen and a portfolio class, in which they prepare a professional portfolio, a print book and a personal website that they can use to apply for jobs. CSM design students also take part in contests. All four centennial logo finalists, for example, were winners of Show Us Your Type, a national typography competition.

Students also do projects inspired by the international design exhibitions Fainshtein has brought to the college library each year, including the current display on the Bauhaus, a 20th century modernist movement.

Kelley, a 2018 graduate of Hillsdale High School, is excited about being a part of CSM history so early in his own college and design career. He plans to transfer to a four-year design program after he graduates from CSM, probably in late 2022. His current project is a design internship with the CSM Bulldog football team.