Dunblane pupil wins contest to mark special 40th birthday
A Dunblane High School pupil has designed a logo marking four decades of STEP, Central Scotland’s business support organisation.
The Stirling-based company was officially registered on November 1, 1983 as Central Region Industry and Business Park Trust Ltd and over the years transformed into STEP.
The firm invited local young people to take part in a competition to design a special logo for its 40th birthday year - with the winner announced as 16-year-old Sol Solanki.
Sol designed a thoughtful logo that the staff felt represented STEP and which will now be used on its marketing and promotion for its birthday celebrations.
Sol won the opportunity to sit down with STEP’S marketing and business development manager and a local graphic designer, Kevin Doyle from We Are Stirling, who discussed her approach to the logo and how it could be brought to life. Kevin then took Sol’s drawing and transformed it into a digital logo.
Sol said:“i entered the competition after seeing it on my Art Google Classroom from school. I love all things art and design. I would love to work in design or media, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn with a design brief. I’m so thankful that STEP picked me.”
James Harrop, owner of We Are Stirling said:“we were so impressed with Sol’s logo, she has a real talent for design and really took STEP’S current logo and brand into consideration. It’s great to see so many young people with an interest in design, it’s fair to say the future of design is secure.”
STEP marketing and business development manager Jenn Mcarthur said; “A huge thank you to everyone that entered the competition, each entry was amazing in its own way from crayoned coloured-in drawings to digitally designed entries.
“It was a tough decision to pick a winner and I’m so glad the decision wasn’t mine alone. Sol’s design really does represent STEP and working with We Are Stirling, she took the logo to the next level. We will be so proud to use the logo throughout 2023 – our birthday year.
“We have a number of plans for 2023 to celebrate our birthday, which includes inviting ex-staff, tenants and members of the community to share any memories that they may have about STEP or our locations. This can include photos, documents or stories which we plan to use to create an exhibition which will be on show at our birthday party in August.”