Northern Kentucky University’s class of 2016 was able to receive something new to the university before the upperclassmen: a new All Card design. Last year, the Student Government Association held a contest for students to design new All Cards that incorporated NKU colors.

“The whole thing started about this time last year when Dustin Robinson, former SGA president, approached me with the idea of coming up with a student designed ID card,” Ward Wenstrup, operations manager at All Card Administration, said. “I thought it was a great idea.”

Wenstrup added that the amount of enthusiasm SGA portrayed transferred over to their office and across the university.

The contest included a money prize donated by US Bank. According to Wenstrup there were over 42 designs submitted by 26 students.

Andrew Stewart, senior visual communication design major, won first place, winning close to $300 and the bragging rights for his design. Stewart was among the students who entered multiple designs.
“I had three submissions and they were all pretty similar. They were sort of different plays off of the same thing,” Stewart said.
All of his designs were done in Adobe Illustrator. Stewart is the student designer for Activities Programming Board. Through word of mouth between APB and SGA, he learned of the contest, saying that the new All Card was meant to be more “Norseified.”

“I took note that the old All Card didn’t say “All Card” on it so that’s something I decided was a good element to add to the card,” Stewart said.
Another element added to the All Card was the student identification number. Separate from an ISO number, the ID number is more like a social security number according to Wenstrup. He said its purpose is geared more towards financial aid needs, among other departments.
Once Stewart won the contest, Wenstrup’s job was to make his design functional.

One change that concerned Wenstrup regarding the new All Card design was if the athletic logo can be changed with the Division I change. Although that cannot be determined at this time, Stewart emphasized that with changing to DI having an All Card that exemplifies school spirit is important.
“People get excited about the athletic events,” he said. “I wanted to utilize something already existent on campus with the athletic logo and the black and gold.”
The former All Card was a photo of architecture on campus. Stewart made it a point to change the focus of the All Card to something more “timeless.”
“Architecture is always changing,” Stewart said.

As a design major, Stewart noted that a big struggle for designers is “where can you make an imprint?” For him this All Card is his imprint on his college career.
“It’s definitely one of those cool leaving behind a legacy type things,” Stewart said.

According to Wenstrup, Stewart has yet to switch over to his new All Card design, but Stewart said he may just have to stop in.
“I think it’s very positive to see the design being well received,” Wenstrup said. “I truly appreciate the student submitted design, but anything that makes the kids excited about their card, I’m all for it.”

“We would love to be able to justify re-carding the entire campus but we can’t do that fiscally and responsibly,” Wenstrup said.
There is a $10 fee for a lost card. Wenstrup said that price hasn’t changed in ten years.