Tony Lindemann and Susan Rich, fifth year visual communication design majors, worked together to design the apple logo. Rich said she and Lindemann are good partners because their opposite personalities complement each other.

Credit: Ben Breier

It began as several sketches on paper and became a simple red apple in the shape of Ohio.

Now, both Anthony Lindemann and Susan Rich, senior visual communication design majors and creators of the Fruit Growers Marketing Association’s new logo, have a newfound appreciation for both the apple and the education found in freelance work.

“I never thought there was so much to know about apples,” Rich said. “The logo originally had four seeds, but we finally agreed on five because when you split an apple in half, it always has five seeds. There’s always something to learn when you take on a new design project. It’s always a completely new experience.”

Company manager Bill Dodd offered them the experience when he felt the company’s designs had become outdated.

“My wife graduated from Kent and suggested I call the graphic design department when I began looking for someone to create something new,” Dodd said. “I came across Anthony and Susan and was very impressed by them. I had already checked with two other professional design firms, and out of the three, Anthony and Susan were the best match.”

Through the summer, Lindemann and Rich were able to incorporate their designs into all the containers and paper products the company uses, Dodd said. These products include boxes, bags, shipping crates, letterheads, envelopes, business cards, grocery store displays, and in the future, a Web site.

“I’m just excited to walk into a store and see it,” Lindemann said. “I think that will be a cool experience.”

While some packaging products currently carry the company’s new logo, the logo will not appear at the store level until October.

“The project is, by far, not over,” Rich said. “We’ve got a lot of things coming up in the future we can work on. But so far it’s been a fun, if not at times hard, project. It’s not easy being a student trying to do this. So many people hear ‘student’ and they think whatever it is we’re working on will turn out juvenile. It was different with Bill, he gave us 100 percent of the credit.”   

Dodd said he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“The students were put into a competitive situation and came out on top,” he said. “They took the time to interview me and find out what I really wanted and what my goals were. I’m very pleased with the results.”

So are Lindemann and Rich.

“This project has worked out really well,” Lindemann said. “I have no clue about apples, and Bill had no clue about graphic design. But we didn’t step on each other’s toes and really trusted in our own specialty. I think the result was awesome.”

Contact news correspondent Jillian Kramer at [email protected].