While it may not strike most as intuitive, the Native American Center at Fort Lewis College’s new logo inspired by tribes of the Pacific Northwest is a good fit.

FLC’s senior graphic designer and photography coordinator Bill Grimes designed the logo during the summer, and it recently won gold in the Collegiate Advertising Awards.

For many years, the center focused on tribes of the Southwest, but the approximately 1,200 Native American students on campus represent more than 150 nations and center director Yvonne Bilinski has made an effort to include everyone’s traditions, she said.

The logo represents students from Alaska and others from the Pacific Northwest, which are one of the larger groups of Native American students on campus.

“It’s a recognition of them,” she said.

But she doesn’t see it as permanent.

She would like to see the logo change to represent tribes from the East Coast and the plains in the future.

Initially, Grimes tried to create a mashup from many tribes, but it got too confusing. Over the fall semester the logo gained popularity, he said.

“The students really got behind it,” he said.

At the advertising awards, the school also won gold for a video on the Native American Center and silver in the admission and acceptance packet category.

The video highlighted the center’s efforts to reach students of all ages and their children.

This is the second year the college has won gold in the short film category, and Lindsay Nyquist attributed the success to having full-time videographer Shan Wells on campus. It’s a somewhat unusual position for a small school.

mshinn@durangoherald.com