Create the next Logo Design for University of Southern California, Center for Scholarly Technology

University of Southern California, Center for Scholarly Technology

The University of Southern California (USC) is a premiere private research university located in Los Angeles.

This logo/graphic competition is for the USC's premiere annual 'bring the faculty together' conference that lets faculty demonstrate to each other how they are using technology for teaching and research. We are looking for a vibrant, active, positive, simple graphical representation for our conference "THE CONNECTED MIND."

This year's (May 2011) annual 'Teaching with Technology' conference is titled 'THE CONNECTED MIND.'

"The Connected Mind" should be the emphasis, not USC or the Center for Scholarly Technology. Only USC / CST needs to abide by USC color/graphic identity guidelines. "The Connected Mind" and new logo can be any color - and may or may not accent the the USC colors.

We see three trends converging: research about the role of the brain in learning, social networking tools, and a participatory culture of user-generated content.

Our title is intended to reflect this convergence.

There is much promise and hope in how we construct KNOWLEDGE and the way that technology helps us in that process - smartphones, gaming, immersive/3D, blogs, wikis, Twitter, email, communications in general, are all part of how we learn from each other and experience 'reality,' and the Web is almost like a global brain.

Every day, brain researchers at USC and elsewhere are examining closely how we "think" and learn. Robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) programs at USC are equally closely focused on these questions toward developing the next generation of 'smart' or 'thinking' AI technologies and robots. At the same time, neuroscience (brain) research reveals that we are distracted by new media technology and students are sometimes not properly processing information and knowledge in long-term memory.

Our conference emphasizes the connectedness and participatory nature of new media, but also subtly recognizes the institutional and teaching challenges relating to these research findings about the brain and new media.

Requirements:

1. This graphic will be used in three main venues: A. As a part of the header on our conference website. B. As a part of the 24"x36" color poster. C. As a part of a 3" x 5 1/2" postcard-sized mailer. It will also be used in several digital reproduction formats, e.g., projection/PowerPoint slides.

2. The logo SHOULD NOT use any form of the official USC logo or USC Seal. Use of USC logos/seals/graphics must adhere to USC graphic identity guidelines as per http://www.usc.edu/identity/


3. File formats:
 Print file format - .ai (CMYK)
 Web file format - .jpg and layered .psd (RGB)
. Do not use any stock images or clip art in the logo.


4. You may choose to include or not to include the conference title text (THE CONNECTED MIND) in your graphic/logo design.

Conference title inspired by this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU