Kati Bailey's Design Chosen to be Used by Packers
While Northeast Wisconsin Technical College student Kati Bailey was watching a presentation in her classroom from Tim Schroeder, the Packers' community outreach coordinator, she knew the project he was detailing – creating a new logo for the team's youth football program – was for her.
"I really wanted to win it," Bailey said of having her design chosen. "I knew I wanted to give them high-quality work and I knew I'd be able to come up with something."
Bailey and 15 fellow students in Mary Sue Fenner's Visual Design II course in the Marketing & Graphic Communications and Print program at NWTC participate in service learning by completing 20 to 25 projects for area non-profit organizations each year. The projects mainly deal with creating new logos or images, as well as pamphlets and other print materials for the organizations.
All of the organizations make a visit to the class and present the details on their respective projects. The students then spend about four weeks working on creating the desired item. The organization returns to the classroom to see the work and offers feedback, final tweaks are completed and the design is chosen, with the creating student becoming the "winner."
With the Packers' project, Schroeder went into detail about the program and explained the various youth football offerings of the organization, including the NFL's Youth Football Fund, which makes grants for youth and high school football programs, Punt, Pass & Kick, Coach of the Week, and other youth football events and development programs.
"In speaking with the class, I told them that when people see the logo, we really want them to know it's a Packers youth football program," said Schroeder.
Through the course of the presentation, Schroeder gave some examples of some other youth football program logos from the NFL, as well as the other teams' logos for their own youth programs.
In addition to print and online informational materials, the logo will be used on t-shirts, water bottles, headbands and other items used in conjunction with the programs.
After four weeks of work by the students, Schroeder returned to the classroom with Cathy Dworak, the Packers' manager of community outreach, to view the proposed logos and hear from the students about their work. The two then took the work back to the Packers offices and reviewed the logos with some additional staff and made their decision.
The final step in the process took place a couple of weeks later when Dworak and Schroeder returned to campus to offer feedback on all the proposals and announce the winner.
Bailey was surprised to hear she had won, but her classmates were not.
"I was really surprised," she said. "I had other classmates tell me that I was going to win. And Mary Sue said when she saw it on the screen, she knew I was going to win. It was hard for me to believe. To me it was a simple clean design. It was special to win."
Dworak and Schroeder presented a helmet to Bailey autographed by Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers with the note, "Congratulations Kati!" For their efforts, everyone in the class was presented a gift bag with some Packers paraphernalia. The team also presented the class a check for $1,000 to go toward the expenses of the class, such as materials and printing.
Bailey, 29, who lives in the Sturgeon Bay area of Door County, enjoyed the process of creating the logo.
"I wanted something to appeal to both boys and girls alike, and also to adults," she explained. It's an overall clean, simple design."
{sportsad300}According to Fenner, projects like this are beneficial for the program, which has been working on such endeavors since 1980. Other organizations to recently utilize their services include Baird Creek Preservation Foundation, Challenge the Outdoors, Red Cross, Law Enforcement Torch Run, Breast Cancer Family Foundation and the NEW Community Shelter.
"These projects are good because the students are very serious when the customers come in," she said. "Some of the projects, students are connected to because of personal circumstance or have friends or family connected to them. Real projects are so much more meaningful than tutorials in a book. It's a great fit for the class and the community."
Dworak couldn't agree more.
"When we learned about the program they offer, we thought it was a great opportunity for developing our new logo," she said. "It was a natural connection. Our youth football programs are a part of the community, so we thought it'd be wonderful to partner with area students in creating the new logo. It's part of their learning experience, too."
Bailey's family, which includes husband, Elliot, two-and-a-half-year-old son Elijah and another child on the way, was thrilled for her. Elijah is a little young to realize his mother's accomplishment, but when he gets older, he'll know.
"I think he'll be proud to see the logo, and to see the autographed helmet," she said.
Perhaps even one day he'll be participating in one of the Packers' youth football programs, wearing a shirt with his mom's logo.
