CougarCS Rebrand
Revitalizing a student club's 20 year history with a modern identity
My Role
Brand Designer - Feature Scoping, Research, Interaction Design, Visual Design
Team
Tools
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
Overview
As CougarCS faced declining engagement and waning member interest, I led a comprehensive rebranding effort. This resulted in 4+ new logos, a fresh color palette, website overhaul, and an impactful visual identity. The revitalized brand reignited member engagement and attracted more sponsors (Including Google, ConocoPhillips, LyondellBasell, Geico, Paycom, Chevron, and more), fostering a dynamic community at the University of Houston.
Timeline
August 2023 - December 2023
0.1 Initial Wireframe of CougarCS Logo
Identifying the problem
The first obstacle gathering ideas on what would make a logo versatile, while still being clean and modern. The main issue with the old branding was the lack of consistency in the design. CougarCS has a large focus on professional development and growth, and the old logo did not represent that.
0.2 Default, Web Dev. Committee, Info. Sec. Team, and Tutoring Team Logo Re-Designs
What is CougarCS?
CougarCS is a student organization with 3 branches, stemming from the main club. These included the Web Development Committee, the Information Security Team, and finally the Tutoring team. I didn’t have a fine tuned idea for how the icons would look, but I had some base ideas, such as adding a Visor, Wires, Shades, and Glasses to the icons to give them a different look. I ended up also giving each branch a color attached to it, so that the members immediately connect a color and icon to a branch, which was something the previous logos lacked.
0.3 Re-designed Home Page Concept
0.4 Not Found Page Concept
Summary of rebranding
When I decided to take the rebrand on, it meant more than just making logos. I have created a majority of graphics seen on the Instagram, Discord, and LinkedIn in 2023. Tirelessly crafting visuals to establish the professional identity the organization was aiming for. I extended upon my design skills into many areas such as Motion Design, Logo Design, Graphic Design, UI/UX Design, and Animation. The rebrand didn’t call for too much besides a logo change, but I definitely wanted to push myself and see what vision I can put out there on my own, and please the crowd I catered to.
0.5 Merchandise & Branding Concepts