New logo approved for fall presidential debate at WFU

Created by Wake Forest art director Samantha Hand and approved by the Commission on Presidential Debates, the logo is featured on the university’s Web site and will be showing up soon in a number of other places, including the Web site of the Winston-Salem Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). Wake Forest and the Winston-Salem CVB were partners in successfully proposing the presidential debate that will be held in the university’s Wait Chapel on Oct. 11.

“I believe the entire community will be proud of this logo,” said Sandra Boyette, Wake Forest’s vice president for university advancement. “It’s a handsome image illustrating that this important American political event is taking place at Wake Forest in Winston-Salem.”

Available in color and black-and-white versions, the official logo features an American flag-draped Wait Chapel set inside a circle. Written inside the circle’s edges are Presidential Debate, Wake Forest University and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The debate’s date is written alongside the chapel.

“It’s appropriate that the chapel photograph used for the logo was shot at night,” Boyette added. “The chapel looks much as it will the night of the debate.”

The debate is scheduled to be broadcast at 9 p.m.

The logo’s first appearance is on Wake Forest’s Web site, where it can be downloaded at www.wfu.edu/debate. At that Web address, the university maintains a Web page devoted to the debate. Organizations, companies and others with questions regarding their potential usage of the logo may call the University Editor’s Office at Wake Forest at 336-758-5379. Hand, the logo’s creator, is a member of the office’s staff.

“In the months leading up to the debate, we expect to see the logo begin showing up in a number of places,” Boyette said. At Wake Forest, for example, the logo will be used not only on Web pages, but also on a wide variety of printed materials associated with the debate.

“We want to make it easily available to all of those involved in promoting the debate, as well as our community,” Boyette added.

Stephan Dragisic of the Winston-Salem CVB anticipates the logo appearing soon on several community Web sites.

“We’ll be using it on our Web site, and so will the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce and the City of Winston-Salem,” Dragisic said. “Like Wake Forest, we will use it on printed materials as well.

“In time, it will be used to promote the debate in a number of ways, including on welcome banners and posters,” he said. “The details are still being developed.”

Downloadable, print-quality images of the new logo are available in several formats at www.wfu.edu/debate/pd-logos.html.