After over 500 rough drafts, they found the winner.

With a logo and branding guide in hand, a group of students competed in the West Virginia Student ADDYs advertising competition and came out on top Feb. 28.

The group, comprised of seven students from the journalism course JMC 383, worked with a local business to redo its logo, which later turned into a winning piece.

Working with the owner, students got the chance to explore logo design and get real-world experience, said Kaitlyn Shouse, a senior advertising major and group leader.

“We were able to go in and talk to our client, who was the owner of the bakery, and see what kind of work she had done and where she wanted to go with it,” Shouse said. “She was looking to redesign the logo, so she had a couple of ideas, but she wanted it a little more simplistic.”

“We were trying to go through all these things, and it took us about 500 rough sketches to find something we liked or at least worked,” Shouse said. “We were bringing this idea of artesian to the river and rail of the bakery itself, trying to come up with a good representation of that.”

Trying to come up with one logo design, after working on all the rough drafts and having seven members, was harder than expected, said Rebecca Casey, a senior advertising major and group member.

“The most challenging part about putting together the work was just making sure not too much work was put on one person,” Casey said.

After coming together to make a design, the group was helped with entering their work in the ADDYs competition, Casey said.

“Our professor,Christine Ingersoll, was extremely helpful in submitting the work,” Casey said. “With it being a group project, we wanted to make sure everyone got the credit they deserved.”

The competition, which was through West Virginia AD East, or the West Virginia AAF (American Advertising Federation)chapter, had an open call for all student projects, and Shouse said the group was not expecting to do as well as they did, knowing the work other competitors submitted.

“We were really proud and did not expect to win at all,” Shouse said. “Knowing how many other students submitted their work and how good they all are. We did not expect to sweep it with the two awards, so we are very grateful for everything that we have and the opportunities that the class has given us.”

In the end, the group won gold for logo design and branding manual and silver for promotional pieces, which Casey said makes the hard work seem worth it.

“It means a lot to have a project win,” Casey said. “I find it reassuring because it shows that all this hard work does pay off and was not just a waste of time. Even if we would not have won, it was still a great learning experience, and I’m grateful for it.”

Meredith O’Bara can be reached at [email protected].