A logo should immediately convey the purpose of an organization—not the case for the current logo of the Riverside Unified School District (RUSD). “It’s far too busy!” Dianna Pavia, manager of Communications and Public Relations for RUSD, exclaims. “It’s impossible to make out the various design elements, much less understand their significance. It doesn’t say anything about our purpose, which is education.”

Designer Mandy Barrett had a tall order to fill in this identity redesign. “The perfect design would be as simple as it is evocative,” Pavia suggests. “It would identify the organization’s focus on education and student achievement. The design could also relate to our geographical area.” In addition, RUSD’s technical limitations in reproduction vary, so it needs an effective logo that works well in full-, two-, and one-color versions.

Barrett wanted to combine the ideas of education and location, so she paired a figure representing a student with an orange and green tree representing the groves of the area. Her logo redesign meets RUSD’s need to print, at times, in black and white, or in full color. Barrett also notes, “the bright colors show a more progressive and contemporary look.”

The designer selected Myriad Bold and Lucida Handwriting, two sans serif fonts, to emphasize the type of writing that is learned in school. She incorporated the tagline “Striving for excellence!” to establish a mission for the school district in general, as well as for the student as an individual. The result of this much-simplified logo is that at first glance, one can easily tell what RUSD is.