A university designed a new logo recently, and the newspaper covered the story in such a way that showed the university at great fault for making the decision, even though that was ridiculous. As an employee of a marketing communications agency specializing in logo design, I question whether either impression is true and feel the paper's coverage ignored several issues relevant to logo development and institutional identity which were very important ones.
Of course, the university agrees it should have allowed for the opinion of the students, and was delayed in the issuance of graphics standards that were needed in order to use the logo and university seal. But the university wasn't in the wrong in doing what it did, besides these things that they admit openly were the wrong decisions.
Another thing that should be taken into consideration is the practice of standardizing a single logo that should be used together with the university seal. One of the core philosophies of graphic design is that institutions need to have one standard set of logo marks and then create a set of use rules so that the public receives a consistent message from the company.
The administration should really be praised for making a prudent business decision and improving the brand of the institution. Logo design may seem simple, but it is actually a very length and arduous process for a large institution. The logo of a university must represent everything the institution stands for, and in the case of a school this goes from physics to sports. I have been a party to many heated debates regarding changes to be made with corporate logs, and I assure you that it is not for the faint of heart.
Many people seem to be disgusted with the, supposedly, large sum of $20,000 payed to the logo designer, but this is a fairly standard fee and is nothing in comparison to the amount of money that goes into having all the university's material reprinted. It is just a fact of human nature that a major image overhaul will trigger negative responses in the community and there are probably a few reasons why.
It is inherent in human nature to be distrusting of change, so getting rid of something that tied people to the institution emotionally will always be difficult. Furthermore, if someone has a different underlying grief with the university they may use this as a forum to vent their preexisting rage. Finally, it is a somewhat frustrating fact of life for people in this business that everyone is a critic, and no matter how much someone actually knows about the subject they know that they are always right.
Adopting a different logo can take time. It is ignorant to believe that everyone will simply jump on board with the change, after almost 120 years of unofficial symbols and well known typefaces, and only a seal as the only clear representative. There are those business folks who still make use of unofficial, altered, or outdated company logos, in spite of the threat of the boss becoming angry. This proves that it's easy for a company to lose control of their visual identity, and must face issues with misuse and inconsistency. It isn't the administration's fault that there has been a hard time getting rid of the old symbols.
Even though the university should have included some of the students' opinions in the design, in their defense it would have been impossible to make everyone (students, staff, alumni, residents) happy with the end results of the final product.
In order for logos to actually serve their purpose they must be discernible, distinctive, be able to draw some sort of emotional response, and be easy enough to recognize in any medium. A logo needs to be a valuable part of a program for graphic identity, which should be defined by a manual of standards. In my opinion, the new logo meets all of these requirements, or is well on it's way to doing so. The university started out with nothing specific so even though the students don't completely agree with the logo design, it is better than what they had before, which was nothing specific.
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