Oak Park and River Forest High School’s newly remodeled Student Activity Center will soon have an addition in the form of new marquee signs.
OPRF freshman Marie Claire Whittaker’s design for new signs for the Student Activity Center and Little Theater was chosen over 11 other student finalists this past spring.
The school-sponsored contest took place in the spring. The students, part of OPRF’s Graphic Design class, were asked to come up with a fresh design for the Little Theater and the Student Activity Center, which was renovated last year.
“I didn’t expect to win,” said Whittaker, 15. “I worked very hard on it. There were a lot of good designs that people did.”
Whittaker used basic yet creative fonts for her design. She said she wanted to incorporate the school’s colors – orange and blue – and used square patterns behind the first letters in Student Activity Center to make her submission stand out.
“I wanted something simple but not boring,” she said. “It took a lot of tinkering but I finally got the right design,” said Whittaker, who is also on the school swim team.”
Students had four weeks to complete their work. Cardosi Kiper Design Group, an Oak Park design company, worked as consultants with the students. Some students worked in groups, but Whittaker worked alone.
She used Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to create the design. Interestingly enough, she had never taken a formal art class or used the programs before. Drawing and painting were her main outlets, she said.
All of the projects were presented in March. OPRF staff and Cardosi Kiper Design Group founders, Kim Cardosi and Tom Kiper, chose the winner.
OPRF’s Little Theater and Student Activity Center currently have no visible signage. Prior to the contest, the school’s operation’s department thought for some time about adding more signs in and particularly outside of the building, namely over the main entrance on Scoville.
Outside firms are expected to get those contracts. But allowing students to design signs for The Little Theater, which showcases student-run plays, and the Student Activity Center, once a movie theater back in the ’60s and ’70s, was a good idea, said Whittaker’s mother, Mairead.
“I was very glad to see the school was able to team up with a firm in working with the students. They were able to get advice and work on something for the school. It was nice to see the school do that for the students instead of bringing in an outside firm to do the project.”
The signs are scheduled to be constructed and unveiled in about a month. For Whittaker’s effort, she received a $50 gift certificate from Starving Artist, an Oak Park art store. She put it to good use, buying supplies – pallets, brushes and canvases – to use for her artwork,” said Mairead.
“I was really proud of her,” she said. “I thought she put a lot of thought and passion into the project.”
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