Student, teacher design Dist. 220 logo

Barrington High School senior Henry Zurawski and graphic arts teacher Brian Mathien have cocreated a new logo for Barrington Unit District 220 to reflect both its history and present-day identity.

The pivotal element of the new logo is a knight chess piece which refers to the district’s athletic teams (the Broncos, Colts and Fillies), the equestrian nature of the Barrington area, the chess traditions in the district as well as the game’s association with intellect, intuition, strategy and forethought.

The district decided to design a new logo to reflect the change of personality and leadership since prior logo’s creation a decade ago, Chief Communications Officer Jeff Arnett said.

Without a great deal of money to spend, however, the district turned to its in-house talent — Zurawski and Mathien. They presented their early ideas to a focus group whose feedback led them to the final design.

As obvious and inspired a choice as the chess piece may seem in retrospect, only one other school logo in the region was found to have incorporated such an element — and in a very different way from Zurawski and Mathien.

“Chess is part of the Barrington culture,” Arnett said. “We felt this was a concept that could really work.”

Zurawski and Mathien recently were honored for their design with an informal reception held by the superintendent’s executive council, featuring a cake bearing the new logo by Barrington’s Sweet Pea Cakes on Cook Street.

The redesigned logo is intended to be usable for at least five years, but officials hope it’s timeless enough not to seem out of place in 10 or 15 years.

While the new logo will become official after the end of the current school year, District 220 intends to use up all of its current stationery and materials bearing the former logo until they run out, Arnett said.