SAN ANGELO, Texas — Jasmyne Harris is a Hutto, TX native who moved to San Angelo for college in 2017.
After graduating from Angelo State University in 2021, she was offered a position as director of digital marketing for Discover San Angelo and now in 2023, she is the official logo designer for the San Angelo NAACP Buffalo Soldier Memorial.
"This project itself was kind of nerve-wracking because I was like, it's a Buffalo Soldier Memorial, it's gonna be here even if I'm not still living in San Angelo," Harris said.
"And so I want it to remain relevant for years to come and I need to understand the impact of it...," she said.
The Buffalo Soldier Memorial is set to open to the public in summer 2023, where Harris' design will help display the history of the 9 and 10 cavalry and 24 and 25 infantry who fought in West Texas.
Harris was asked to create the logo for the memorial back in 2022 and she spent months working on multiple draft revisions to come up with the perfect design.
"I found a shape that I liked, it gave that badge-style logo," Harris said. "The colors were blue and yellow and we needed to have that. We also needed to have sabres and rifles," she added.
At first, Harris was looking for inspiration from various other buffalo soldier memorials, where the images themselves were often not well-defined.
Eventually, after weekly meetings with the San Angelo memorial team, she created a design that showcased her unique, colorful style, featuring a detailed image of a blue and yellow buffalo in the center with the proper information on the outside.
Looking forward, Harris will be able to see her vision come to life in San Angelo for years to come and she feels honored to have been chosen for the project.
"For me, not being from San Angelo, that was at first a kind of insecurity I had while creating," Harris said.
"But the team has welcomed me like I was from San Angelo and something that I've created is part of San Angelo now, so it kind of feels like part of me will always be here, even if I move away," she added.
The design can be found on merchandise including pins, mugs, t-shirts and more.
Soon enough, it will be part of a memorial in San Angelo for years to come.
