HES Students Compete to Develop UA’s Official Tartan Design

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Designs by three University of Alabama students are finalists in a contest to designate UA’s official tartan, and you have a chance to vote online for your favorite plaid.  

Students enrolled in UA’s College of Human Environmental Sciences’ department of clothing, textiles, and interior design entered the contest. Original designs by three students, Brittany Long, a junior from Atlanta; Candace Lucas, a senior from Mobile; and Linnzi Rich, a junior from Stevenson, were selected as finalists.  

Go to http://bama.ua.edu/~tartandesign/ before Oct. 12 to see the designs and to vote for your favorite. Results from the online vote will be given to an independent judging panel who will consider them before selecting the official UA tartan.  

The winning design, which will be recorded in the International Tartan Index, maintained by the Scottish Tartans Authority, and the National Tartan Registry, will be announced Oct. 15 at the College’s Homecoming Convocation, said Dr. Milla Boschung, dean of the College of Human Environmental Sciences.  

By going to the site, bama.ua.edu/~tartandesign, viewers can also watch a video and hear each student describe, in her own words, the research that went into their design and what inspired them.  

Long and Lucas are majoring in apparel and textile design while Rich is majoring in interior design.  

“Crimson and White Clan” is the name of Long’s design.  

“The main color is Crimson, which I chose for the color of the school,” Long said. “There’s a skinny red line which represents the football team. When they were formed in 1892, they were originally called the Thin Red Line. The darker red color represents bricks, not only on Denny Chimes, but also on most of the buildings around campus.  The crimson and white lines, just inside of that, represent the Crimson and White (student newspaper) and all of the history they have reported for 116 years. And, just inside of that, the gray lines represent our mascot, the elephant.”   

“Family Tides” is the name of Lucas’ design.  

“The green lines are placed directly in the center of the design and are representative of the Quad with relation to its central location on campus,” Lucas said. “The crimson lines represent all those who have walked the Quad and all those who will walk the Quad. All the crimson lines are intersecting. And the intersections symbolize the way we cross our paths and impact each other’s lives.”  

“We are Crimson” is the name of Rich’s design.  

“I wanted my tartan to be easily recognized as the University’s plaid,” Rich said. “So, naturally I wanted the predominant colors to be crimson and white, with accents of black and gray. Secondly, I wanted it to represent the entire University, so I used 13 lines to represent the 13 colleges that comprise The University of Alabama today. Then, in the center of the design, the innermost white square represents Denny Chimes, and the whole central plaid represents the Quad because the Quad is the heart of the campus. The four corners of the center plaid speak to our past and represent the four original buildings that survived the fire set by the Union troops during the Civil War.”  

The winning design will later be incorporated into actual merchandise available for purchase.  

The College of Human Environmental Sciences is a professional school with a focus on enhancing the quality of life for individuals, families and communities. Throughout its history, the College has achieved a national reputation for excellence through the quality of its academic programs and faculty who are recognized as scholars and leaders in the generation of both basic and applied research.