Graphic Technologies Student Designs New Lakewood Playhouse Logo

When Lakewood Playhouse announced its brand new 80^th Anniversary Logo earlier this week, it publicly unveiled a partnership between the local theatre company and Clover Park Technical College that allowed a CPTC student to design the new logo.

Lakewood Playhouse and the CPTC Graphic Technologies program worked together throughout the past five months to give students the opportunity to design the new logo, under guidance from the theatre’s resident poster designer James Stowe. Eventually, John Barger’s designs were selected as the new slate of logos.

“We love the classic, retro feel of these designs,” Lakewood Playhouse Managing Artistic Director John Munn said in the press release. “But we also love the clean and elegant lines that capture our vision for the theatre’s future. We can’t wait to share it with our Theatre Family throughout the area and beyond.”

For Barger, who grew up in Puyallup and whose father attended Clover Park, the logo provided the perfect opportunity to take a historical inspiration but still build from scratch. Basing the typeface off old-fashioned, thick-stroked theatre fonts, he created his own lettering style with more modern lines.

“Something I played around with right away was the idea of a ticket stub,” Barger said. “I developed the typeface to fit the ticket stub icon and convey the old double-stroked theatre fonts in a more modern style. There wasn’t any font like that, so I made it.”

The partnership between the two organizations grew from Munn’s Rotary connection to CPTC President Dr. Joyce Loveday. They discussed opportunities for collaboration, and the search for a new logo became the perfect task. Stowe served as a mentor to CPTC’s students, coming to classes several times throughout fall quarter and offering his freelance experience. In the official terminology, he served as the “representative for the client” to realistically simulate a graphic design marketing relationship.

“We jumped at the opportunity to be able to team up with Clover Park’s Graphic Technologies program,” Munn said. “The idea of having an educational opportunity wrapped around the creation of our theatre’s new representational logo went hand-in-hand with our education department – The Lakewood Institute of Theatre.”

With Lakewood Playhouse celebrating its 80^th Anniversary and CPTC celebrating its 75^th, the experience marks a unique collaboration between a pair of institutions with long-established educational roots in the community.

“Since 2002, we have offered educational opportunities and outreach for youth and adults. Having our resident poster artist James Stowe, who himself is a working freelance artist, teaching side-by-side with Darryl Owens for his students seemed like a natural extension of our program,” Munn said.

Owens praised the partnership not just for the experience it gave Barger, but for the opportunities it provided for every student in the program. He said about six students put together artistic design options, while others helped critique and develop the designs of their classmates. In the end, the collaboration has left everyone involved excited for the future.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled with John’s designs, and we look forward to many more opportunities that our Lakewood community-based organizations and deeply-rooted institutions can team up on in the future!” Munn said.

To learn more about CPTC's Graphic Technologies program, click here.