The Trend's Rebrand

The Trend is the student newspaper at the University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma (USAO). Established in 1919, it is the oldest student organization on the campus, with a long history of success and support for and from the University. In 2005, The Trend became one of the first student publications in Oklahoma to create an online counterpart, known as The Trend Online. 

The Trend Online quickly became The Trend’s only publication, as printing was an enormous expense that no longer gave the same return on investment. The Trend saw great success after the online convergence, however by 2019 that success had given way to steady decline. The website had been created using a format designed for online storefronts using DOS and had not been updated since. The website was difficult to manage on the back end, and readership was also declining due to the website’s dated user experience. In the spring of 2022, The Trend was in much need of a reset. Daniel Buster was appointed Editor-in-Chief, and Harrison Stone became the Managing Editor. Stone explains that revitalizing The Trend was “practically from the ground up!”

The first step in the revitalization of The Trend was the creation of a new visual brand. Historically, there had not been a consistent branding or visual representation for the publication, so there was no foundation to work from, beyond the culture of USAO, and the values of The Trend. This broad horizon proved simpler to narrow down than previously thought. The goal was to have a clean, simple logotype to represent a journalistic project that at its core, is utilized for the education of both its readers and staff. Given USAO’s use of Minerva on the University Seal, an owl seemed an appropriate nod to the publication’s relationship to the institution. The resulting asset became the foundation that The Trend grew from and continues to build on. 

Creating a modern website was the next step. Stone said, “We started with a semblance of a website and structure and created a modern, efficient news site.” The decision was made to move The Trend to a new webmaster, a company called SNO (School Newspapers Online). SNO offered a multitude of services to The Trend, including the migration of the current site on the new one, resources on managing a website, and most importantly ultimate control over the website’s design. The result was the beginning of a new era for The Trend, that has allowed the publication to expand into several areas outside written articles, including comic strips and a podcast. Emily Loughridge, Editor-in-Chief, has this to say about the effects of The Trend’s rebuild “The Trend’s new website has made the newsfeed accessible to the general population of students. It completely changed the way The Trend and its staff operated. It became easier to access the website, make edits to it, and post articles for people to read. The website is clean, modern, and easily navigated.”

Moving forward, The Trend now has the resources to better train new staff and set up future students for success. Loughridge said, “It also provides analytics for The Trend’s editorial staff to learn what articles and topics are popular and which are not. The Trend has grown tremendously since the rebrand and new website. We now boast more writers, more articles posted, and more readers.”

To view The Trend, visit trend.usao.edu