The new WE2BA logo designed by Westfield Tech’s Graphic Arts shop.
WESTFIELD – At Friday’s meeting of the Westfield 2 Business Alliance (WE2BA), Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski unveiled a logo for the newly formed group designed by the Graphic Arts shop at Westfield Technical Academy.
WTA Graphic Arts instructor Lyndsay Ruelle said that Czaporowski asked them to come up with a design that symbolized the Westfield Public Schools and the Chamber of Commerce coming together.
Ruelle said she used the same circle template that she has been using for the schools. She used the Chamber of Commerce blue within for its star border, with a red apple inside the star for Westfield Public Schools.
“He said it was perfect, no changes,” Ruelle said.
The Graphic Arts logo project started over two years ago, when Westfield Technical-Vocational School changed its name to Westfield Technical Academy. Ruelle said at first they hired a marketing company, who came up with the cupola on top of the upper campus as the logo for the school.
Ruelle thought of enclosing the cupola in a circle surrounded by the name. She said as soon as they made that design, they made sweatshirts for the entire school that had the logo on it. They sold 100 in a week. They plan to print another round of sweatshirts for new students, and sell them at lunch.
WTA Senior Andrew Curran and Graphic Arts instructor Lyndsay Ruelle.
Next, they decided on their own to design logos for all of the technical shops in the school.
“Being the design teacher, I want to have a design standard and thought that it would be good if they were all uniform,” Ruelle said. All of the career technical shops logos they created are enclosed in the Westfield Technical Academy circle, with different symbols for each shop, and the name of the shop written below it.
Ruelle said they started with Graphic Arts, because they wanted a shop shirt. They created an easel board with characters on notes, and printed it on black shirts. The students chose the color for the logo on their shirts from CYMK colors. Teachers chose green logos.
Next they designed all of the rest of the shops. Ruelle said not all of the shops use the logos. Aviation Maintenance Technology has its own logo, for example, and wears a uniform, as do manufacturing and electrical wiring.
Matthew Seklecki, department head for Graphic Arts said all of the shops have a uniform. “Not all of them allow for the personalization we’re able to create for them,” Seklecki said.
Ruelle said Automotive, Horticulture, Construction all use their logos. She said Business Tech loves theirs, which portrays men and women circling a globe.
Southampton Road Elementary School Principal Kathleen O’Donnell holds up the school’s logo t-shirt, designed by WTA Graphic Arts.
By this time, Graphic Arts senior Andrew Curran became very involved in the project. He silkscreened the shirts, and also printed all of the shop logos on vinyl for plaques. He said he cut out the logos, and applied them on boards that Construction Tech made for them. The custodian hung them in the auditorium, on either side of the stage.
All of the district schools came next. “We did them on our own without being prompted,” Ruelle said.
Curran said the students did all the research, calling around to the schools for their logo needs. Some of the schools came back to them with feedback on the logos. For example, Franklin Avenue elementary school, which had been designed with a dragon logo, came back asking them to put a heart in the dragon.
For the Westfield Public Schools logo, Ruelle enclosed the bicycle the District had been using within a circle, with the words “Achieving Excellence Together” underneath. She also had to take the bite out of the apple, due to copyright. She said Czaporowski ordered 50 navy shirts, with the red, white and black logos on them.
The most recent logo project, apart from the WE2BA logo has been for WSKB Community Radio programs. Super Czap came first. Ruelle said the idea came about from Superhero day last year, when Czaporowski was hired as superintendent. She was asked to make Superman logo with a Z in it that said Super on the bottom.
The newly redesigned “Superintendent’s Spotlight” logo, with Christopher Rogers as Batman.
“We made them for shirts, once he had gotten the job, for Superhero day,” Ruelle said. She then changed it for the “Superintendent’s Spotlight” radio show on WSKB.
The next radio logo they designed was “In the flow with Rob & Joe,” featuring cartoons of student services coordinator Rob Ollari and WTA Principal Joseph Langone.
Now that the “Superintendent’s Spotlight” features Christopher Rogers in addition to the superintendent, Ruelle and her team modified the logo by adding Rogers holding the spotlight as Batman. Recently, Patrick Berry of The Westfield News Radio Show told them he would like one, also.
Curran said he will be attending STCC next year for graphic design to get his Associate’s degree. He said ultimately he wants to do Interior Design, and will have to transfer to another school for that.
Ruelle, a WTA graduate, is in her seventh year of teaching at the school. She said she went to college for visual arts, and worked in marketing before coming back to WTA. Graphic Arts has 14 slots available in their shop. Coming up, they have 12 juniors, 14 sophomore and 14 freshmen enrolled in the program.
