Communication design students from Louisiana Tech gave back to the community this quarter by assisting in the rebranding of the 8th Air Force Museum of Bossier City, located on Barksdale Air Force Base, by first helping with the redesign of their website. Students’ designs also included the museum logo, letterhead (envelope and stationery), museum stanchion display inserts, signage/way-finding media and iPhone application mock-ups. Terry Snook, president of the 8th Air Force Museum Board and Tech alumna, tasked Patrick Miller’s fall 2011 Art 471 class in designing the new look of the museum in an effort to support several grant opportunities seeking funds from $2 million to $35 million. “I thought this would be a great real-world project for our students and provide some needed outreach to a regional landmark,” Miller, acting assistant professor of communication design, said. Snook spoke to the communication design class at the beginning of fall quarter introducing the importance of the 8th Air Force and its role in World War II and beyond, while also defining the significance of the rebranding efforts to the museum, he said. Miller said, “In addition to reviewing World War II combat footage, we took a class field trip to the [museum] at Barksdale Air Force Base and were treated to a fabulous personalized tour.” He also said this field trip provided the opportunity for students to snap their own pictures, which they then implemented into their final design. Jake Dugard, a graduate student in communication design, said each student had the same goal, but each person used their creativity to present their own image of the museum. “It was interesting to see different takes on the same museum,” he said. There is a possibility that one of the students’ work will be chosen to represent the museum, Dugard said. Currently, the USAF Administration is in the process of choosing the official new name for the museum. At that point, the work produced in the class will be selected for further production. “Patrick [Miller] said one of the students should probably expect a call within the next few weeks or months,” he said. “It will be cool to see the work actually used.” Alan Hudgins, a senior communication design major, said it was important to him to push the mobile web application when designing his project. “One of the things I thought would be interesting is, if you are out there by yourself and have an iPhone, you can go through a virtual tour of the planes,” he said. Hudgins put a lot of energy into designing the website, which he said would be the primary way people would interact with the museum prior to visiting. He also said the central theme of his website design focused on planning the visit. “If you are looking at this, there are die hard people who are interested in this stuff like veterans, military and aviation enthusiasts, but I tried to open my design up to where it is warmer for a wider range of people,” Hudgins said. Hudgins’ and Dugard’s work is among the students’ work that was chosen and displayed at the inaugural 8th Air Force Museum Association fundraising banquet held in downtown Shreveport this quarter. Miller said, “I think by all accounts, we got some really great feedback.” Written by Haley Kraemer