Although the on-campus support and prevention group Helping Abuse and Violence End Now did not receive a federal grant this year, the organization was able to advertise with the help of a local graphic design artist.

HAVEN, a network of departments on campus, aims to prevent sexual abuse and violence and provides resources and materials for victims of such crimes.

The group's most recent flyers and postcards surfaced on campus in February after Dan Saal, owner of Studio Saal, developed a logo and ad campaign pro bono for the non-profit organization.

HAVEN's new ads featured a candy heart with phrases like "I will hurt you" as a way of spreading awareness during the Valentine's Day season.

The holiday provided a good opportunity to let students know the organization was still around and able to help, said Sue Cooper, crime prevention officer in the Office of Public Safety and HAVEN member.

Cooper also said the group was "piggy-backing" on recent Tribune articles and editorials about the group's lack of funding.

In addition to a new ad campaign, the flyers launched a new logo: HAVEN spelled out in a sans serif typeface with a heart emerging out of the "v."

The organization "wanted a strong professional-looking image," Saal said. "They wanted consistency."

Saal, a graphic designer for 12 years, offered his services free after hearing about HAVEN from Catherine Coppolillo, a graduate student in the College of Arts & Sciences and HAVEN student advocate.

Saal not only wants to make money from his business but participate in socially responsible projects.

"A lot of organizations like HAVEN or a lot of other nonprofits don't have money," Saal said. "If they do, it has to be spent on a lot of other things."

"We're incredibly grateful," Coppolillo said. "We feel like it sort of gives us some renewed sense of energy and really galvanizes our commitment, too."

He began collaborating with the organization in fall 2004 and in about a month-and-a-half presented his logo.

Saal said he wanted to present an accurate image of HAVEN without alienating the male population.

"The heart is kind of an icon that represent love and caring," he said. "It was a heart that wasn't too cutesy, not too feminine but strong."

About three weeks before Valentine's Day, Saal and HAVEN developed an ad campaign so the organization was able to blanket the campus with flyers on walls, poster boards and bathroom stalls.

"People would be affected by it," Saal said. "It was a great kind of a play on the whole thing that got people to really think abut the fact that this kind of abuse should not be part of a relationship."

Cooper said the promotional efforts additionally manifested themselves in the forms of postcards passed out in the Alumni Memorial Union.

Future HAVEN advertisement projects include targeting residence halls, Cooper said.

Saal said his design process for the logo differed slightly from his usual endeavors.

"Sometimes you work for hours but this one I just sketched a couple of times and this idea just popped on the page," he said.

Saal entered his logo and ad campaign designs in the American Institute of Graphic Designers' annual competition in hopes of further exposure for HAVEN.

For more information about the organization or to contact HAVEN, students can call 288-5746.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Mar. 15 2005.