The Vice President of Strategic Communications at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) proposed adopting a new set of brand standards and elements in order to refresh and make consistent the institution’s communication and advertising efforts.  Foremost among the goals of the project was to create and adopt a new version of UAH’s athletics mascot.  The VP selected a team of marketing directors and designers to assist in the selection and vetting of a marketing firm to do the branding work.  I was selected to represent UAH’s web team–the digital arm of the Office of Marketing and Communications.

The branding executive committee met over the course of several weeks to solicit and evaluate work proposals from ten national marketing and design firms.  The winner was Henderson Shapiro Peck out of Atlanta, Georgia.  Our team and HSP’s design team spent the next few months designing the first and most important of the rebranding project elements: the graphic logo for the UAH athletics mascot, Charger Blue.  My advice and perspective was regularly sought after by the vice president and the creative director; we would have informal, spirited discussions about design drafts that lasted long after official committee meetings ended.  It was some of the most fun work I’ve done while at UAH.  It lights me up like a bulb and I hope to do more.