In July 2007, the Publicity/Marketing Committee of the UCAL Board of Directors wanted to replace the existing UCAL logo and announced a logo design competition. Neighborhood artists submitted designs and two winners were selected.

First prize of $100 to John Merigliano		Second prize of $50 to Kori Klyman

John Merigliano works as a freelance graphic designer. Some of his clients include IKEA, Drexel University, and the Tibetan Buddhist Center of Philadelphia. As a college instructor, he has taught digital media and design communication classes at Salem Community College in New Jersey and Wilmington College in Delaware. He has also taught drawing/visual thinking classes at the University City Arts League in Philadelphia, PA. He has exhibited visual art nationally and has worked as an artist in residence at the University of Minnesota. In his spare time, he enjoys playing jazz as a drummer. For more information and to see samples of his work, please visit his website at www.johnmerigliano.com.

John had this to say about his design:

For the UCAL logo, I wanted to communicate a very clear idea about the University City Arts League using type and minimal graphics. The idea here was that the UCAL is a place where many different things happen that come together under one roof. For example, there are classes ranging from spanish to photography to yoga. So I thought that as a logo, I felt obligated to try to capture this. Visually, I did this by separating the words into distinct spaces. I wanted the words to read from left to right so there was no question as to what the name of the organization was. I also wanted to emphasize the word ARTs (of course!). In addition, the layered UCAL in caps helps to communicate the arts league's short name (UCAL). The contrast between the horizontal letterforms and the vertical direction of the word "league" helps to emphasize the unique character of this place. I look at just about anything in terms of graphic design, from the good to the bad to the ugly (mostly junk mail) so I'm sure something filtered through into this logo.