MWCC student designs logo for Gardner's centennial celebration

GARDNER – When she was tasked with creating the official logo for the city’s centennial celebration, designer Anya Ezechukwu knew she needed an image that was simple enough to fit on t-shirts and mugs, but one that still evoked some of the history of the Chair City.

“I love challenges, and this was a big challenge for me,” she said, adding that her first step was to contact members of the Gardner Centennial Celebration to find out what they expected from the logo. “That’s Graphic Designer 101 – you contact your client and hear what they want.”

Ezechukwu, who lives in Shirley and is studying graphic design at Mount Wachusett Community College, said she was notified that she had been selected to design the logo by Leslie Cullen, one of her teachers at the school.

“I was very thrilled and happy about it,” Ezechukwu said. “I could never imagine that she would think of me, but I was thrilled.”

Design incorporates city's manufacturing history

After researching the city’s history, Ezechukwu settled on a concept that would remind those who saw it of the community’s history as the Furniture Capital of New England. The focus of the logo, fittingly enough, is a chair with the caption ‘100 Years’ superimposed over it. Also included are the words ‘City of Gardner Centennial’ and the years 1923 and 2023. (Gardner was incorporated as a town in 1785 and officially became a city in 1923.)

The logo was originally conceived as a circle, but Ezechukwu, 22, said she was persuaded by committee member Marion Knoll, who is the coordinator of the Gardner Museum, to design it with an oval shape so that it might more easily fit on commemorative pins and hats.

“So I changed the design, and the (committee members) loved it even more,” she said.

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Logo includes key part of city's history

The four stars in the image represent a key moment in the founding of the city, when four surrounding towns – Ashburnham, Templeton, Westminster, and Winchendon – granted the land in 1785 that would form the original community. Ezechukwu said she was inspired by the United States flag to include the stars in the logo.

“I didn’t want to put the names of the towns because this is a celebration of Gardner as a city, its independence, but without those towns I feel like Gardner wouldn’t even be here,” she explained.

Ezechukwu’s family moved to Shirley from Nigeria in 2020. She said the main colors of the logo – green and brown – were inspired by her commute to and from the Mount.

“I’ve been to Gardner during every season, and it just has this nature-like aesthetic and look,” she explained. “That’s why my colors are earthy toned, because Gardner is subtle and vintage and rustic in its own classy way. I wanted the colors to be peaceful and evoke suburban calm.”

More:Gardner woman prepares to celebrate 100th birthday along with city

Members of the celebration committee said they were pleased with the Ezechukwu’s work designing the logo.

“Not only was I impressed by the amount of work she put into the design, and her professionalism concerning committee suggestions for changes, but also by the high quality of the design itself,” said Knoll. “You would not think it came from a student!”

Brad Heglin said the entire committee was appreciative of Ezechukwu’s efforts.

“While Gardner is much older, our city status is just now 100 years old and we wanted something to represent that,” Heglin said. “Anya did that well through the colors, dates, and of course the watermark chair in the background.”

Ezechukwu said the response to her final design had been overwhelmingly positive, and that the reaction had left her pleased and somewhat overwhelmed. She said she was excited for the logo to be officially unveiled at the Centennial Celebration’s kick-off event at Jackson Playground on Saturday, Jan. 14.

“This is the first time that anything like this has ever happened to me, and I’m so thankful and grateful that I’m getting this recognition,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Gardner Centennial Celebration Logo designed by Anya Ezechukwu