Foothill+De Anza International Logo

Logo designed for Foothill + De Anza International community college.

Foothill + De Anza recruits and advises international students within the Foothill-De Anza community college district, located in Silicon Valley, California. The International Department wanted to update the look and feel of their entire brand. As we began the process of updating their existing colors, fonts, and photography, it became apparent that the current logo would not fit within the new, modern brand style. We decided to design a new logo that embodied the beautiful surroundings of Silicon Valley with a more modern and professional logo type.

The logo needed to appeal to students from every part of the world. Many symbols that work for students from one country, would not be okay for students from another country. The client wanted to represent both Foothill and De Anza colleges equally. It was also important to keep the "+" sign from the original logo because it was a well-recognized aspect of the existing brand.

To emphasize the natural beauty of Silicon Valley, I combined simple, rounded shapes to represent a valley and sun. The two foothills that make up the valley represent the two colleges. The logo type is a thin and clean sans-serif font. The rounded corners of the font give it a welcoming and friendly feel, which is important because many international students can feel nervous about studying abroad.