When people begin flying AccessAir next year, they will be surrounded by the work of Iowa State graphic and interior design students.

AccessAir is a new company that will provide jet service to the east and west coasts beginning in 1998.

Seventeen graphic and interior design students have been designing the AccessAir logo, color schemes, uniforms, tickets, stationery and cabin space.

Roger Baer, assistant dean of the College of Design, said the dean of the college, Mark Engelbrecht, got the students involved in the project.

“Dean Engelbrecht happens to be friends with an investor of AccessAir and a past president of the ISU Foundation Board, John Shores,” Baer said.

After plans were made for ISU students to help design for the new airline, three teams of students were formed. Each group was to come up with their own idea and then the groups would vote on which one or which parts of one they liked the most.

“We all started with their original idea for a logo and just went from there. AccessAir decided that they needed something new and fresh, and we could provide that,” said Megan Saville, senior in graphic design.

The students have met three times a week since the beginning of the semester.

“It was kind of complicated getting everything organized with the meeting times. This was a two-credit class, so we did have to meet on a regular basis,” Saville said.

Baer said the project had a very fast timeline.

“AccessAir wanted to begin flying by December but now are looking more at mid-January,” Baer said.

Saville said it all worked out in the end.

The students presented their ideas to AccessAir three times before their final proposal on Tuesday.

“It was a good experience, but the hardest part had to be getting exactly what they wanted. Each time we left the meetings it was back to the drawing board,” Saville said.

“They were very good about letting us know what they wanted though,” she added.

Saville said she really enjoyed working on the project with the interior design students since it is something that is not usually done.

The 17 students who worked on the designs were rewarded with a free round-trip flight to any destination on AccessAir.