Next academic year, the Yew Chung International School of Beijing community will celebrate its 25th Anniversary and we are all thrilled to hit this much anticipated momentous milestone. Even though the past few months have been not been the proverbial walk in the park for anyone, we have remained strong and united, which also calls for a celebration. As part of our 25th anniversary preparations, the School has sought the creativity and skills of our Secondary school students to create an anniversary logo for the festivities.

In line with the Yew Chung and Yew Wah focus on embracing community and nurturing students in every area including the arts, our “25th Anniversary Logo Competition” was launched earlier this semester.  With the help of Allison Cusato, YCIS-BJ Secondary Art Teacher, who offered everyone a crash course in graphic design, many of our students from Year 7 – 13 accepted the challenge and successfully submitted their entries.

Miss Cusato, who has an established background in design,  stated: “I showed the students examples of successful logos throughout history and we talked about why they are successful. Students also had to find 3 of their favorite logos and determine why they are good logos.”  The purpose of the exercise was to corroborate her point about what makes a good logo, leading up to the students’ own designs.

This exercise led to them exploring logos by Nike, Apple, in addition to that,  she brought it closer to home by showcasing our school’s logo. During the lesson, students had to ascertain what makes them all unique and stand out. With reference to the YCIS logo, “they were able to identify an open book, a graduation cap, an arrow showing acceleration and a globe.”  Miss Cusato shared with us.

The design journey began with students submitting their sketches, which was followed by the black and white versions, and finally the colour forms of their logos. All the design logo submissions had to follow the following criterion;- Communicate the anniversary year, our campus and our common learning goals- It had to be clean and easy to recognize

Miss Cusato made it clear that “logos should not be complicated or include any small details because they get lost. They should be bold with thick lines and shape.”   Below are 5 tips she shared on how to create a successful logo:

- Keep it simple and clean- Think about how you are communicating the product you are designing for.- Brainstorm and draw some sketches - Design it in Black and white first, then turn it into color- Most importantly, have fun!

The winner for the YCIS Beijing 25th Anniversary Logo Competition will be announced in the forthcoming weeks. We wish all the participants good luck!