The village plans to unveil new decorative street light pole banners this spring designed by students at Stillwater High School, depicting various Stillwater historic venues and locations.

Twenty banners will be hung in May featuring 10 different village landmarks. Each vinyl banner will be 30 inches wide and 59 inches long, with two-sided images. These landmarks include Town and Village Halls, the fire department, American Legion, library, Blockhouse, community center, school district and churches.

“It think they will really brighten up the village,” said Trustee Judith Wood-Zeno, who resurrected the project originally proposed for the spring of 2017 but put on hold.

Designing the banners were students in teacher Samantha Brennan’s Digital Media and Graphic Design course at the high school. The students are learning introductory visual design concepts and principles in the course and produced the banners using computer programs from the Adobe Create Suite series.

Design skills learned in the course include creating digital illustrations, photography, typography, advertising, photo manipulation, and other scopes of the graphic arts. For each assignment the students were responsible for creating a design based on the guidelines, images, and information the customer is asking for. The students reached out to the 10 village institutions and collaborated on the design ideas. Many banner designs were submitted, but in the end, 10 (created by nine students in all) were chosen as finalists.

“Each part of this process was such a great learning experience for the students,” Brennan explained. “The best part of all is that their work will be up for everyone in the community to see and enjoy!”

Once the banners are delivered and hung, Wood-Zeno is planning a public unveiling to honor the student artists. The banners will be taken down and stored in the winter and have a lifespan of about three years, she said.