Student’s Work Brings Branding Upgrade to On-Campus Venue

Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Le Jeune Patissier – translated “the young pastry chef” – recently employed new visual branding, courtesy of a graphic design student’s senior project work.

As a student, Breanne M. Chandler, who received a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from the college in May, was a regular customer at Le Jeune Patissier at the Market, an on-campus venue for baking and pastry arts students to learn about bakeshop production and managing a retail bakery.

“One day, I joked with Chef Charles (R. Niedermyer, instructor of baking and pastry arts, whose classes operate the Le Jeune Patissier sales) that he should have a customer punch card so students like me could earn free pastries,” Chandler said. “I told him that I would even design a card for him. At that time, my motivation for designing for Le Jeune Patissier at The Market was purely centered on my small college student wallet and my big appetite for sweets.”

Still, Chandler knew that in order to graduate, she would be required to present an original, high-quality senior project. During the fall semester of her senior year, Nicholas L. Stephenson, instructor of graphic design, asked Chandler about her ideas for a senior project.

“We started discussing my interests on- and off-campus, and he brought up the pastries I was always bringing to class,” Chandler said. “It was then that it all fell into place. Not only could I design a customer punch card, but I could create a complete rebrand for Le Jeune Patissier at The Market.

“I met with Chef Charles to share my ideas and ask for his consideration of my project. While my grade would not be based on whether a client actually used my designs, I liked the idea that Le Jeune might be able to make use of what I was creating.”

Chandler proceeded, creating for her senior project a new logo, menu, punch card, posters and a website.

The new branding debuted this fall, with many of her elements being used. Chandler’s logo appears on signage, product packaging, menus and promotions for Le Jeune Patissier at The Market sales. Using the punch cards she designed, customers receive one free item valued at up to $3 on every third visit, and her work was used to update the Le Jeune Chef website with an online form to preorder decorated cakes from Le Jeune Patissier sales.

“During her senior year, I had the pleasure of sitting down and hearing Breanne’s ideas to make the experience better for our customers,” Niedermyer said. “I couldn’t be prouder of her. She put so much energy and enthusiasm into her work, and the results were superb! I’m excited to see where her career takes her.”

Le Jeune Patissier at The Market is operated by students in the Advanced Baking and Pastry Operations course, who host sales periodically throughout the fall and spring semesters in the Carl Building Technologies Center. The Market is on the Third Street side of the building. Sales are open to the public. To see a sale schedule and menus, visit lejeunechef.pct.edu/patissier.htm.

“This project taught me how to interact with clients,” Chandler said. “Throughout the entire semester, I was lucky enough to have professors that would provide me with feedback in and out of the classroom.”

A month after graduating, Chandler accepted a design job with Avesis Inc., an insurance company in Owings Mills, Maryland, where she works with the company’s creative director designing for both print and the web.

“Our professors have been looked at as being tough and very critical at times, but it is now that I look back at my time at Penn College and realize what they were really doing,” Chandler said. “They pushed me to have high expectations for myself. They taught me how to bounce back after receiving negative critique of my work. They inspired me to love my future in graphic design. But most importantly, they prepared me for the real world. Life is not always easy, and at times you may have to start over, but always persevere.”

To learn more about graphic design majors at Penn College, call 570-327-4521.

For information about Penn College, a national leader in applied technology education and workforce development, email the Admissions Office or call toll-free 800-367-9222.