An Eastern Graphic Design class is conducting a project that will give local business the opportunity to reinvigorate and change their brand identity.

The class, ART 4921, taught by art professor Samantha Osborne, is an advanced graphic design course for seniors.

Osborne said the project is an attempt to provide materials, such as new logo designs and others, for local businesses that will elevate their identity and profile within the community.

The class is separated into four groups; each group is assigned a different local business to work with.

The businesses that are taking part in the project are CCAR Industries, Bike and Hike, Plush Boutique and Home Again Consignment Shop. All businesses are local, though they do range in business models.

CCAR Industries is a not-for-profit organization founded with the goal of enhancing the quality of life for East Central Illinois citizens with developmental disabilities or other functional limitations.

Natalie Standley, a student in the group dedicated to helping CCAR, said they presented three different ideas to the organization.

“They pulled what they liked from some aspects and what they didn’t like from others. We pulled all that feedback to make one conclusive look based on those three looks,” Standley said.

Standley is confident after CCAR viewed the ideas yesterday that feedback was positive from the organization.

Bike and Hike is a store that sells multiple styles of bikes, with a location in both Effingham and Charleston. The design project only consisted of the Charleston store.

Travis White, a student in the Bike and Hike group, said the store requested a look that was more updated and more relatable to present customers.

“We gave more tamed down colors, more earthy colors. They had a very bright green that was almost neon,” White said. “They also liked that we included a bike in the design.”

Brendan Lynch is the advocacy director of the Charleston location of Bike and Hike. He said for continuity purposes, he is going to maintain the current design style for the store, though did refer to some of the students’ ideas as brilliant.

Home Again Consignment Shop is a furniture resale shop on 18th Street in Charleston.

Aurelia Tauscher is with the Home Again group.

Tauscher said the main request from the store was to make design options that make the store more noticeable as a furniture store to passersby. It also requested a more consistent social media presence.

“We redesigned their logo, we made stuff look more consistent throughout their store … we did little signs inside the store, their color scheme, their website,” Tauscher said. “We made one consistent design and color scheme they could use throughout their store and on social media.”

All the groups presented their ideas to the businesses Wednesday. Now the students will wait for responses from the businesses.

Parker Valentine can be reached at 581-2812 or pivalentine@eiu.edu