When public relations students at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids asked FUEL to assist with a class project to raise awareness and support for the Cedar Rapids Public Library, they got both great design and an education about the creative process. “We felt it was a worthy project and we were excited to get involved,” says FUEL owner John Moes.
Students in the “Strategies and Tactics in Public Relations” class chose the Cedar Rapids Public Library Foundation as the non-profit organization they wanted to assist through their assignment to plan and execute a media event. The Foundation has been leading efforts to raise funds to rebuild the library, which was devastated in the Flood of 2008.
A class visit to FUEL to ask for advice inspired FUEL’s award-winning design team to join hands with the students to create materials including the identity, bookmark and t-shirts to raise awareness about the library’s need for community support. The materials helped the PR students enlist sponsors, publicize their “Readers Rebuild” campaign, and work with two local elementary schools to raised more than $1,300 for the library’s Flood Recovery Fund through coin drives.
“The whole point of the course was to work with a real client in putting on an event,” says Mount Mercy senior Rachel Furman. “Thanks to the generosity of the guys at FUEL, we got to work with a real design firm too.”
Adds instructor LaDawn Edwards, “Student projects are typically developed on a shoestring budget. Because FUEL was involved the students ended up with beautiful materials to publicize the campaign and share with the kids who did the coin drives.”
Bill Bollman is FUEL’s Creative Director. Before co-founding FUEL in 2001, he worked for Horizon Communications, JW Morton and Basler Design Group. Bill studied Illustration at Hawkeye Tech in Waterloo, Iowa. An expert in the “old ways” of hands-on print production, these skills influence his work in the digital world to this day. His work throughout his career has been featured in international publications including Graphis, How International Design, Communication Arts, and The One Book as well as numerous design annuals and reference books.
