Project CANDLE Logo
a logo project by khouser

Creative brief

About Project CANDLE
Project CANDLE is an industry/university partnership to advance the lighting professions. It is an initiative of Penn State University. The partners include Penn State, the International Association of Lighting Designers (www.iald.org), and companies from the lighting industry (some you may have heard of include Philips Lighting, Cooper Lighting, the US Department of Energy, plus about 15 others). We will be working together toward two main outcomes:
• Increase the number of people that make lighting their vocation
• Ensure that coursework and educational experiences are response to industry needs such that graduating students have the right set of attitudes, skills, and abilities for careers in the lighting professions.
CANDLE is an acronym for “Create Alliance to Nurture Design in Lighting Education”. The alliance is made up of the partners outlined above.

Our Target Market
We and our partners are lighting designers, manufacturers of lighting equipment, and students of lighting. We help make architectural space uplifting and beautiful through artful and sensitive lighting design. We emphasize beauty, energy efficiency, and sustainability. We want to use this logo as a graphic identifier on websites, letterhead, business cards, and brochures. The logo should help us to: 1) attract students into this wonderful profession, and 2) attract additional industry partners.
Key concepts that we would like to convey:
• Professionalism
• Exciting career
• Opportunity
• Partnership
• Forward looking / High tech / Cutting edge
• Action

Logo Design Considerations
• The logo should not be a literal interpretation of a candle. No wicks, flames, wax, or anything that would be kitschy. The logo should not include light bulbs, lamps, wires, or any other lighting equipment.
• The words “Project CANDLE” (without the quotes) should be a part of the logo. We don’t have an opinion about whether the words should be prominent as with a text dominated wordmark, or whether they should be subservient to an eye-catching graphic.
• We want something that can be shrunk down to a browser address bar icon, expanded up to a conference display, and everything in between (e.g. business cards, postcards, web sites, product brochures, or other marketing materials).
• Does the logo look good on different backgrounds and on different media? Does it look good on a black or colored background as may be seen on a website? Does it look good on a white background as might appear on letterhead or business cards?
• Does the logo look good when printed using a black and white laser printer? Note: this would be nice, but it is not the highest priority.
• What’s the initial impression when looking at the logo for 5 or 10 seconds?
• Is the text “Project CANDLE” (without the quotes) legible?
• Balance is important, but probably not symmetry. Is there good use of negative space? Note: Depending on the logo design, it may be important to have transparent negative space such that the logo will work on backgrounds of different color.
• What does the design communicate? How does it communicate the goals of Project CANDLE?
• What impression will the logo leave students that might be considering lighting?
• What impression will the logo leave on companies in the lighting industry that we want to attract as new partners?
• What impression will the logo leave on our non-target market (such as others in the lighting industry that we are not working with directly, but we want them to have a favorable impression)?
• Files needed: EPS, PSD, AI, and JPG

Future Work
This is a first step in the branding and promotion of Project CANDLE. Website design will come next, and perhaps stationary and a PowerPoint template.