For Katie Hostetler, the design of the mission patch didn't feel as new as it felt familiar. In a recent LSU Art + Design profile, she shared how her first opportunity to send art into space actually arrived already in fifth grade."It was a contest to design a flag to go into space and I was really far ahead in the contest but ended up in second place," Hostetler remembers. "So, when my professor, Courtney Barr, came to me with the Tiger Eye 1 opportunity, I was like, 'Fifth-grade me would be proud.' My mom was especially excited."
Barr recruited seven undergraduate and graduate art students to come up with 19 different design ideas for the space patch. After careful vetting and input from the other students on his team, Chancellor chose one of Hostetler's designs, which features a fierce but protective tiger eye overlooking a spacecraft landing on the Moon—because he appreciated the symbolism, and also because "it looked awesome."
Above: LSU Art + Design senior Katie Hostetler approached the design challenge of creating an iconic patch for the LSU Tiger Eye 1 mission the way she'd previously designed logos, but with more detail. She also researched the history of space patches, which tend to be bold, literal depictions of missions, often with hidden "insider" symbolism that resonates with the core team. She explored various eye shapes before settling on the final design, configured in something close to a yin-yang pattern (balance between the eye and the moon).
"The patch is an important symbol because it includes everyone on the team," Chancellor said. "Folks like Danielle Cintron, Darya Courville, Greg Trahan, Shemeka Law, and countless others at LSU have worked really hard behind the scenes to make Tiger Eye 1 possible. Space missions do not happen entirely in a vacuum, and the patch itself helps to represent that idea."
"I came up with a few different versions, but I'm so glad he picked this one; it's my favorite," Hostetler said.
posted 05-06-2021 10:48 AM
advertisement