There is a lot to be said for symbolism, and that is true of the new diamond-shaped logo for the Fayette County School System, adopted by unanimous vote at the Feb. 25 meeting of the Fayette County Board of Education.
Public Relations Specialist Melinda Berry-Dreisbach at the meeting explained the intricacies of the new logo.
Berry-Dreisbach said the symbol features a modernized diamond that signals the system’s commitment to innovative, creative and customized learning. It sits atop the Fayette County Public School’s iconic dark blue diamond that represents our rich history of academic excellence. The iconic diamond is adjacent to two heavy dark rectangles that all together form a solid base indicative of our school system’s strength and stability. As a whole, the mark is a contemporary representation of a flame and cauldron, a universal symbol of knowledge and intellect.
The modernized diamond is made up of individual diamonds, Berry-Dreisbach explained. On the right, two diamonds are connected to form a rectangle representing the seven elementary grades, the base of a student’s education and where creativity begins to merge with academics. As the eye follows clockwise to the left and up, the other two diamonds symbolize the three middle and four high school grades, respectively, where the merging of creativity with academics continues until graduation, she said.
“The modernized diamond features alternating shades of light and dark blue. The light blue conveys the creativity of education, combining with the darker blue representing the traditional core subjects. The darker blue shades are arrowheads, suggesting the merging of traditional education with creative programs that allow students to build a customized learning experience tailored to their needs and interests, and ultimately producing graduates capable of living and working effectively, responsibly and productively in a global environment,” said Berry-Dreisbach.
Continuing the explanation, Berry-Dreisbach said the wordmark and tagline are composed in a well-crafted typography.
The wordmark, in all upper-case type with aligned edges, represents the strength of the school system while the tagline, in an italic sentence-case type style, conveys the creativity of our innovative approach to traditional education. Both are in Fayette County dark blue, conveying the message of strength, intellect, stability and trust.
The new logo will be outfitted on all school systems where a logo is utilized.
I’m not certain if I was amused or discouraged by the story about the new Fayette Co School logo.
I get that the logo is intended to symbolize the motif of a ‘flame and caldron’ but the detailed explanation of the logo was, to say the least, bizarre.
The description notes that the darker shaded diamonds form arrowheads, suggesting “merging”. To my eye, one arrowhead points up, one points to the right and the larger one points down and to the left. Seems more diverging than merging.
I’m sure I am over-thinking this. After all, it’s just a logo.
Which brings me to question: Does the school system need a logo at all? Logos are used to promote and differentiate competing brands. The school system on the whole seems to be pretty high quality and produces a good product – well educated young people. Does it need a marketing effort? I hope not a lot of effort and expense was devoted to the production of this new logo.
But what do I know? I’m just a taxpayer!
Who paid for this and how much?