Bert's Alerts—Oct. 16, 2020
News Highlights
CWI Brand – Development, Research, and What’s Next
As a follow-up to the brand update presented at the 2020 College Address, College Relations would like to share a brief recap on work that has been accomplished and what to expect moving forward related to the College of Western Idaho (CWI) Brand initiative.
LOOKING BACK
As you may recall, a new brand identity was introduced during the Spring 2020 faculty and staff in-service in January. An enormous amount of work has been done since then to research, review data, and begin developing concepts for the new college logo. In addition, Brand Champions volunteered to help provide direction and feedback on these concepts.
Based on brand research, survey and focus group data, and a follow-up survey with Brand Champions earlier this year, the following attributes and logo characteristics surfaced.
Top Three Attributes that Resonate with CWI Community:
- Inviting/Welcoming
- Reputable/Quality
- Innovative
Desired Logo Design Characteristics:
- Modern
- Friendly
- Quality
- Organic
- Integrated with symbol(s) that carry additional meaning
- Flexibility
- Simplicity
- Boldness
Preferred Themes for Symbol Element:
- Compass
- navigating, setting/plotting your course, college trek/journey (outdoor element)
- Connector
- pathway (bridge, ramp), conduit, student to career or transfer, connection between counties, connection between rural and urban
- Movement
- bettering life, making fearless decision for self-improvement, upward momentum and growth
These attributes and logo characteristics helped direct the creative team with development of logo concepts. The design team, comprised of in-house and external creatives from Interact Communications, collaborated on this effort developing over 120 unique concepts.
Concepts were sorted and narrowed by comparing against the research data, identifying those that most closely aligned, while also carrying the strongest logo design traits and qualities.
Five concepts were presented to the Brand Champions in March 2020 during a working session. The group’s selections and feedback were collected and used to finalize concepts to be included in the Brand Survey.
BRAND SURVEY
The survey was open for three weeks in June and July, and focused on gathering quantitative and qualitative feedback from the college community and larger external community.
A total of 1,352 participants completed the online survey. According to Interact Communications, our brand research partner, this is considered a very high response rate. Typically, when Interact conducts these types of community and campus-based surveys, response rates average around 500 participants at most. In CWI’s case, the response rate was well above expectations and provides a high degree of statistical strength and confidence in reliability of the data and results. Thank you to everyone who participated!
Below is a quick summary of some of the findings based on the results.
Logo
Overall people would be accepting of a new logo.
Three different concepts were presented and, while some areas internally did like concept #1, concept #2 showed the highest preference overall from internal and external audiences.
Colors
Since we were reaching a large audience with this survey, we took the opportunity to measure how open the community would be to color changes. According to our internal respondents, results indicated a mixed response of preference between our current palette and something different; however, overall respondents were quite open to considering a new color scheme.
What’s Next
With knowledge the community is open to a color change, we will continue work on refining a new, refreshed color scheme to align with the extensive research that has been conducted, as well as the results and feedback from the survey.
During their September meeting, the CWI Board of Trustees acknowledged all of the work thus far on the brand and communicated to continue moving forward into next steps of finalization, which includes the following work:
- Final review and adjustments on #2 logo concept
- Brand Strategy will be finalized; new logo, new color palette, and mascot development
Timelines
As you may have guessed, the introduction of COVID-19 has resulted in delays in the original timeline for the brand development and release. Based on these delays, Phase 1 of kick-off and launch of the new brand is now targeted for Spring 2021.
The brand is currently on the institutional list of initiatives and will be prioritized accordingly. In addition, much of the planning of resources for this transition will occur in AETAC. Please keep in mind this timeline will be dependent upon budget resources and capacity. Rollout of the brand will be phased to accommodate balance of budget and capacity resources. More information will be made available as brand strategy and timelines for the transition is finalized.
The CWI Brand survey report is available for employees to reference on the Communications and Marketing Brand Resource page on myCWI. During the new brand implementation, this will also be a primary location where resources and communications will be shared to assist CWI employees during the transition.
If you have questions about the CWI Brand, or would like to be involved, please contact College Relations at communications@cwi.edu or 208.562.2222.
2021 Connections Project Logo Contest
Calling all aspiring artists, designers, and creatives! Current College of Western Idaho students are invited to share their talent and skill by designing a logo for the 2021 Connections Project. The Connections Project, an annual event put on by the College each spring, is dedicated to showcasing student work and accomplishments.
For those ready to take on the challenge, original logo designs must be submitted by Friday, Nov. 13, at 11:59 p.m. Submission instructions as well as a style guide are available on Blackboard in myCommons/Engage/Connections Project. The winner will be announced at the beginning of spring semester. The winning logo will be used for marketing efforts surrounding the event, and the designer will receive a $150 cash prize!
Contact Karen Brown at karenbrown@cwi.edu with questions or more information.
Staff of the Month – September 2020
Congratulations to Cami Johnson, College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Staff of the Month for September 2020. Johnson is a Manager in Accounting for the Business Office and has been with the College for two and a half years.
“I have always had a passion for secondary education and the opportunities it provides,” said Johnson. “It also allows me the ability to give back and participate in the community. CWI is a great place to work because we are all striving to better peoples' lives and we all bring unique views and talents to the table.”
Johnson graduated from Boise State University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting. Prior to CWI she worked for a small CPA firm in downtown Boise and as a property accountant at HomeRiver Group Boise.
Diligent in going above and beyond her assigned duties, Johnson is recognized for her ability to fill in when needed, provide guidance, and share her wisdom and knowledge with members of her team.
“Cami is always ready to take on a new task or improve a process and is quick to learn new tasks and skills,” shared a coworker. “I really appreciate her efforts to keep our office up and running so we can serve the needs of the College.”
Johnson was born in Saskatchewan, Canada, and immigrated to the United States when she was seven years old. Her family lived in Virginia before moving to Idaho when she was 11. She and her husband have been married for seven years and have a 10-year old son, two crazy Beagles, and three cats. Outside of work, she enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons, working in her garden, and reading or binge watching Harry Potter or Star Trek.
Writers and Words Series Welcomes Jimmy Santiago Baca
College of Western Idaho (CWI) is excited to welcome renowned poet, Jimmy Santiago Baca, to campus virtually as part of the Writers and Words Series for a workshop and reading Tuesday, Oct. 27.
During Spring 2020 semester, CWI graduate, Travis Hill, contacted Baca via Twitter to request an interview for a presentation he was giving on the poet in his English 241 – Creative Writing Poetry class. Baca responded, and the two developed a relationship. Hill encouraged Baca to contact his professor, Abby Wolford, to plan a visit to CWI.
“If you are ever in Idaho, I am sure CWI would love to have you do a reading, a Q&A, whatever,” Hill wrote to Baca.
At the beginning of March this year, Baca indeed reached out to Wolford to arrange a reading and workshop for students for the upcoming fall semester – then COVID-19 happened, and travel ground to a halt.
“I hated to see this reading not happen,” said Wolford. “Nearly all of us in the English department teach his poetry. What a fantastic opportunity for students to be able to work with Jimmy Santiago Baca – so, we moved it online.”
Moving the workshop and reading online, as Zoom webinars, opened up a lot of possibilities and a lot more seats – 500 to be exact! Because of this, the reading is open to the entire community with a special invitation to CWI students, faculty, and staff to attend the workshop portion of the webinar.
Baca first began writing poetry while incarcerated as a young man after being convicted of drug possession. He served six and a half years in prison, three of them in isolation. Baca had been homeless since the age of thirteen and therefore had never had the opportunity to be educated. While in prison, he taught himself to read and write and began writing poetry.
“We often work with College of Idaho to bring in poets,” said Wolford. “Working together has allowed us to bring in many well-known poets in the past. College of Idaho professor and poet, Diane Raptosh, specifically teaches a class on writing in the prison system and will be bringing many of her own students to the event.”
Baca’s first book was published in 1979. He has since written numerous books of poetry, a memoir, novels, and screenplays. He has four books coming out in the next three years. In addition to the American Book Award, Baca is a recipient of the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature. A documentary on Baca’s life, A Place to Stand, is available in the Kanopy database in the CWI Library.
The workshop portion of the webinar, which begins at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 27, is limited to CWI students, faculty, and staff. To reserve a seat, please contact Abby Wolford at abbywolford@cwi.edu.
The reading, which begins at 6 p.m., is free and open to the public. Registration to reserve your seat on the webinar is required.
Advisor-Palooza – Fall 2020
Calling all College of Western Idaho students! Plan to join us virtually for this semester’s Advisor-Palooza, an exciting event for you to connect with your Student Success Advisor in preparation for Spring 2021 registration.
Be there to:
- Ask questions
- Meet advisors from different specialties
- Schedule an advising appointment
- Update your major
- Discuss summer and fall registration
- and WIN great prizes!
Advisor-Palooza will be held Wednesday, Oct. 28, and Thursday, Oct. 29, via Zoom from 4:30 – 7:30 p.m. No appointment is necessary.
Questions? Contact academicadvising@cwi.edu.
Giving Tree Gathers Gifts for Foster Children
Brighten the holiday season for children in the Treasure Valley by participating in College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) 12th annual Giving Tree. This year, CWI’s Criminal Justice department, Psi Beta Honor Society, Psychology Club, and Veteran’s Association have partnered with 3rd District Guardian Ad Litem Program, a non-profit program advocating for abused and neglected children, to gather gifts for children in foster care.
“This year more than ever, amidst all the uncertainty in the world, we are so happy to be able to brighten the holidays for children in need in our community,” said Stephanie Breach, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice.
Unwrapped gifts will be collected now through Dec. 11 at trees located near the security desks at the following campus locations:
- Ada County Campus Lynx Building
- Canyon County Center
- Nampa Campus Aspen Classroom Building
- Nampa Campus Administration Building
Sign up to participate in this year's Giving Tree
Contact Heather Schoenherr at heatherschoenherr@cwi.edu with questions.
