College student helping Lincolnshire with branding effort
Lincolnshire officials have turned to a college student with local ties for help with a municipal marketing project.
University of Notre Dame student Erin Rice has developed a possible new logo for Lincolnshire as part of village hall's efforts to rebrand the town.
Rice will publicly unveil her proposal Monday night during a committee-of-the-whole meeting at village hall, 1 Olde Half Day Road. The session is set to follow a 7 p.m. village board meeting.
The village's current logo features a curving L decorated with three maple leaves. The leaves represent a group of three trees near the Des Plaines River that were a natural landmark for Potawatomi gatherings.
In 2014, the village board hired a Chicago company called TeamWorks Media to develop a brand and public relations campaign for Lincolnshire.
The goal was to improve Lincolnshire's name recognition for economic development purposes, according to village documents.
TeamWorks proposed logo options in April 2015 and revised them that September. But the board wasn't moved by any of the concepts and took no action on the proposal, Village Manager Brad Burke said.
The firm was paid nearly $50,000 for its work.
During that process, Rice independently reached out to Mayor Elizabeth Brandt about working on a design for the village as part of a class project, Burke said.
A 2012 Stevenson High School graduate, Rice is working toward a bachelor's degree of fine arts in graphic and industrial design.
Some of the work she's completed for the village came from that assignment, Burke said.
On Monday, Rice will propose several logo possibilities, including one that depicts an L on a green shield and another that incorporates the curve of the Des Plaines River within a green-and-blue design.
Rice couldn't be reached for comment Friday.
Burke said it's great to have Rice working on the project.
"She not only brings design talent but also a distinctive local perspective to the branding project ... along with a historical view and attachment and affinity for the Lincolnshire community," Burke said.
Mundelein and Wauconda are among the Lake County communities that have launched rebranding or marketing efforts in recent years.
Mundelein's has especially caught on, thanks to a new, brightly colored logo consisting of a star that's actually a series of capital M's. The logo can be found on police cars, village documents, signs and even socks available at village hall.