Department of Human Services


	DDHH logo winner Karrie Hontz, on the right, receives prizes from NWJAD representative Bonnie Thomas, left, ALDA-GS Nancy Kingsley, and Ira Hock, from the NJ Division of Deaf and Hard of Hearing, who presented on behalf of AT&T.			The new logo for New Jersey’s Division of Deaf and Hard of Hearing, designed by Karrie Fiorillo-Hontz of Kinnelon, Morris County.

TRENTON, NEW JERSEY -- Karrie Fiorillo-Hontz, of Kinnelon, Morris County, was honored for designing the winning new logo for the New Jersey Division of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DDHH) at the quarterly meeting of the DDHH Advisory Council in Trenton.

Fiorillo-Hontz said she wanted to change the old symbol for “deaf” that typically showed an ear within a circle and a slash across it, from being a negative symbol like “no smoking” and other “no” logos, to a positive symbol of hands encircling the ear, representing caring and outreach. And hands are vitally important for communication for sign language, gestures, etc.

“The image of New Jersey is the inner part of the ear which says where we live,” she explained, “and I made the shape of the outer part of the ear with the words New Jersey Division of Deaf and Hard of Hearing.”

Born in Ringwood, Passaic County, as the only deaf person in her family, Fiorillio-Hontz described how she lived much of her later childhood in Palisades Park, Bergen County. Since she was the only deaf child in that school district, they had no deaf programming. Fiorillo-Hontz credits her mother for sending her to a “hearing” school, “because it was more of a challenge than going to a deaf school. I'm really glad my mother did that, because it helped me learn how to communicate with the hearing. I grew up lip-reading and attended speech classes, which really paid-off because I can speak well for a profoundly deaf person.”

In seventh grade, however, the change to five or six different teachers a day became more difficult for her to understand because they were all different. “They would tend to forget that I was in the classroom and that they needed to remember to look at me directly,” she explained.

Ultimately that situation did not work, so she transferred to Midland Park High School in 8th grade, because they already had a Secondary Hearing-Impaired Program (SHIP) which provided notetakers and interpreters. That's when she started to learn sign language from friends.

Wanting to learn more about deafness, she applied for Gallaudet University. “I enrolled there in 1995 and graduated Sigma cum Laude with BA in graphic design. Those five years were the most wonderful experience I ever had,” said Hontz. “I also met my husband there. We are now married for a year, and we hope to start a family someday.” Fiorillo-Hontz, a graphic designer, lives in Kinnelon with her husband.

The DDHH Advisory Council reached out to its community of deaf and hard of hearing consumers to design the new logo as part of DHS Commissioner Gwendolyn L. Harris’ mission of “emphasizing ‘people first’ in the delivery of services… through partnerships and collaboration with communities statewide.”

In addition to the DDHH honor, Fiorillo-Hontz won prizes from the Northwest Jersey Association of the Deaf (NWJAD), Association of Late Deafened Adults-Garden State (ALDA-GS), The NJ Grange, and AT&T Relay Services.

The DDHH logo contest was the 5th contest that she has won. The other four were all won at Gallaudet University. In their 1998 Graphic Design Show, Hontz came in 1st for best graphic design; placed third in 1999; won a T-shirt design contest for the University’s Run for Excellence; and won another T-shirt contest for the Social Worker Department at Gallaudet University.