Ripon High’s Smoke Signal newspaper has had the same logo for as long as people can remember. The Journalism class decided it was time to switch it up. To find the new logo, they held a contest open to the students of Ripon High. Out of sixteen contestants, Sierra Barrios was the one to win the contest. Her dream catcher logo concept will now be the face of The Smoke Signal for years to come.

“When designing the logo, I wanted to incorporate Ripon High’s symbol,” said Sierra Barrios, senior. “I just went off the dream catcher and went from there.”

The new Journalism logo definitely resembles the school’s one, but there are many differences. For one, Barrios fit “Smoke Signal” inside the dream catcher for the newspaper symbol, something that is missing in the RHS dream catcher. In addition, the repeating words of “Ripon High School” are circled around the logo, a key detail that gives helps make sure the high school of the newspaper is known to any newcomers who might click on the website. The now official, digital logo took Barrios’ concept but replaced “School” with “Journalism” to give tribute to the class.

“I was shocked when I heard I won because I turned in the submission late,” said Barrios. “I thought mine was more on the basic side, too, so it was very surprising.”

The decision that determined the winner of the contest took a very long time. There were numerous votes held in the Journalism class that narrowed down the group of potential winners. The contest was originally held in Dec. 2021, but it took awhile for the winner to be chosen, which was done nearly a month later. The design went through many editors for it to be finalized, and it will soon be put on the website to represent the school newspaper. The logo will also be used on the shirts for people in Journalism.

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