Branding CSU Dominguez Hills: No Gain Without Frank Paine

Frank Paine (Class of ’74, B.A., studio art; ’83, M.P.A.), the director of Instructional Media Services at CSU Dominguez Hills and the man who created the CSUDH logo in the late 1970s, retires this month after a 34-year career at his alma mater.

Kirti Celly, associate professor of marketing in the College of Business Administration and Public Policy and Brenda Knepper, director of University Communications and Public Affairs, recently had a conversation with Paine, to gain a better understanding of the university’s brand history and identity.

Objectives for meeting with Paine were to find out about the creative challenges and ideas behind the logo, a key element of the university’s visual identity, and to understand what the logo signifies. In talking to Paine in his office in Welch Hall, Celly and Knepper discovered how Paine’s personal history as an alumnus and artist are intertwined with the logo he created. Paine also shared about the CSUDH mascot—the Toro—and the university colors—cardinal and gold—and Paine’s views on the university’s strengths that form the foundation for developing a strong identity.

Paine began his career in the Municipal Arts Department of the City of Los Angeles, working at the historic Barnsdall Park Art Gallery, while studying at what was then California State College, Dominguez Hills (CSCDH). As a member of the class of 1974, Paine earned a bachelor’s degree in studio arts with an emphasis on drawing. At the time, the university had a young faculty and a culture that was infused with a spirit of creativity and innovation. Exemplifying this spirit was the fact that Paine received course credit for working at the art gallery. Paine suggests that this basic idea—an internship model—could still serve this educational institution well, helping CSUDH differentiate itself from other universities in the area and better serving the educational needs of its students—often older, working full-time, and with multi-generational families to care for.

Paine was hired by the university and had been working as a graphic artist for three years when Dr. Donald Gerth (1976-1984) became the president in 1976. Gerth articulated the need for a unified identity for the campus and recruited Paine to design the new identity.

“Don Gerth called me and said, ‘Come to my office,” Paine remembers. “‘We’re looking for a new logo.’ He said, ‘I’d like to have something that doesn’t entirely detract from [the old logo] and is uniquely Dominguez. I want something that shows that we’re emerging from the community, and that we’re in motion.’”

Paine’s task was daunting: to create an easily identifiable logo representing learning and academia that would clearly evoke “Dominguez Hills.” Further, his vision of the logo should not be radically different from the one in use at the time—a 1960s era yin-yang sign with surrounding lettering that said “brotherhood and freedom.” This symbol had been expeditiously created for use as a graphic symbol for the university, but had not been expressly adopted as the formal university logo.

Paine set to work to create a brand mark by first sketching many ideas in pencil, including variations on a “light of learning,” triangular forms, a series of concentric circles to represent the sun with outreached arms, and a Woolmark-like symbol. Paine humbly shares credit for the final design of the logo with Cliff Brown of the Times-Mirror Corporation and then campus photographer for CSUDH. Brown played a pivotal role in helping him move from his original drawings to the logo as we know it, Paine says. Brown suggested that the logo be cut in half, with the dark left representing a mirror image of a “D” with the right hand side being the rays of learning that emanate from CSU Dominguez Hills. A finalized, inked version of this idea was selected and formally adopted, along with a visual identity system that included typography and color guidelines. The logo made its first public appearance in the campus newspaper on Sept. 28, 1977.

Paine describes it as a good brand mark: easily identifiable, artistic, coherent, inclusive, and symmetrical. From an art history perspective, he adds that it includes classic symbolism—moving from darkness on the left side to the radiating “light of learning” on the right.

A Redondo Beach native and avid surfer, he debunks the myth that the logo represents a wave or another popular idea, that it was inspired by the light and shadows in tunnels under the Carson campus, although he says it is an interesting coincidence that an approximation of the logo can be seen underground when the lighting is just right.

“I saw the tunnel, probably years after we had done the logo,” he says. “I was down there turning on the lights one day, and [said], ‘Whoa, look at that, it’s the logo!’”

Paine says that the logo has succeeded in becoming an iconic representation of CSU Dominguez Hills, omnipresent on campus signage, stationery, the website and publications. It has served its purpose well in being an easily adaptable image that represents the university.

“I thought it represented the light of learning, coming from ignorance to knowledge, from the dark to the light,” he says. “I also thought those [rays] looked like outstretched arms, bringing people in.”

On the signature colors and other visual identity elements used by the university, Paine makes some noteworthy comments. Paine feels that the cardinal and gold colors currently in use do not serve to differentiate CSU Dominguez Hills from the University of Southern California (USC), whose colors are very similar. He and other marketing experts recommend a more sophisticated palette of cardinal and gray. Paine adds that the classic typography that was incorporated in the original logo and visual identity program would have stood the test of time, but was changed to a now-dated font that was popular in the 1990s. In addition, there are many altered versions of the logo in use around campus that dilute its strength. Paine notes that the CSUDH’s highly-recognized mascot, the Toro, was chosen as a symbol of strength and relates to the history of the Dominguez land as a rancho, where cattle once grazed.

A well-recognized brand mark is not enough, Paine states. We must do a good job of letting people know what we do here. His ideas are clear about how to leverage the history and strengths of the university.

“CSUDH really needs to create a niche—both as a way of differentiating itself from its much older regional competitors and as a means of developing a clear sense of identity,” says Paine. “Perhaps one way would be to move away from a bricks and mortar institution to an organized system of online and hybrid programs. This would be fitting for the majority of our students, and consistent with our past.”

He mentions that his predecessor in Instructional Media, Jim Durham, was responsible for creating many distance programs. Durham approached the cities of Torrance, Lawndale, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, and others and provided them with cable education programs created by the British National University Consortium.

“Dominguez Hills is currently seeking ways to re-brand itself as the university of the South Bay,” Paine says, “and its strengths as an institution not just of higher learning but of training the state’s workforce should be emphasized.”

Paine stresses that there is a need to focus on “distance and extended education; education for older students who want to get back into the swing of things and don’t want to feel as if they’ve been left behind; and people who need continuing education: doctors, nurses, hygienists, firemen, people in [professions] that are constantly needing certification,” he says. “I think we should address those things and be the university for those people.”

Paine recalls his time at Dominguez Hills, first as a student and then as a staff member and administrator, as a lesson in tolerance and transformation, echoing the logo that he designed. He has worn many hats—literally and figuratively—in his career at the university, serving as a graphic artist, media production specialist, host to the university television show “Comline,” and assistant dean of the University Library. In his most recent role as director for Instructional Media, Paine has been responsible for equipping over 76 “smart” classrooms with enhanced technology and presentation equipment. He has also been in charge of instructional media distribution to faculty in classrooms, and the Instructional Media Center that houses all audio-visual materials. Under his direction, the Center has transformed into a state-of-the-art digital workstation environment for easier access and use of the university’s collection of instructional media and reference materials.

Paine has cultivated lifelong friendships with many people on campus and he leaves with the wish that “everybody, from the staff and faculty to the students appreciate each other and what each one is doing . . . I say have a good time here and enjoy each other and love one another.”

Paine is considered a valued member of the campus community and several of his friends and co-workers express the hope that he will take time out from surfing and other post-retirement activities to stay connected as an emeritus staff member and alumnus. And, however the future positioning and branding of CSU Dominguez Hills evolves in the academic milieu, one of Frank Paine’s many contributions to the university is clearly a legacy: a distinctive brand mark that represents the learning and transformation of lives that occurs at CSU Dominguez Hills.

- Kirti Sawhney Celly with Brenda Knepper and Joanie Harmon

Photos above: The original California State College, Dominguez Hills logo, pre-1977. Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections

The CSUDH logo, as redesigned by Frank Paine.