UW Logo Gate Part 1: a University’s Identity Crisis

I’ve touched on this topic before, but now that it seems to be wrapping up, I wanted to give a recap of the whole series of events.

Erik Erikkson coined the term “identity crisis.” An identity crisis is “when a person loses a sense of personal sameness or historical continuity” (Thanks Wikipedia).  How fitting for a university that’s struggling to issue its new identity after a leak put plans on hold.

The University of Waterloo hit it’s 50th anniversary in 2007. During this year, UW set ambitious goals for its Sixth Decade. These plans were outlined in its Sixth Decade Plan. Part of this ambitious plan involved establishing a new identity for the University. Of course, this meant a new marketing identity, or visual identity for the University. It didn’t mean trying to organically change the identity of the University and the students’ who represent it through smart and well executed initiatives (like Velocity, for example); this was strictly design.

The young university’s identity had been strongly associated with their crest, which consists of a shield with a chevron and three lions. In UW’s 50-or-so years of existence, the identity’s remained largely the same. On campus signage was set in Helvetica and the University was closely associated with the Chevron, Lions and black and gold. In 1997 the logo received a minor update, but the identity remained largely the same and what you might think of for a University. Come the 50th anniversary and associated University bureaucracy, it was concluded that the University had an Identity problem. Their reputation wasn’t being conveyed truthfully or effectively around the globe. This is an obvious problem, so the University set to remedy it.

In 2008, the University’s identity received an incremental update which can still be found online. This update was the right step for an identity make over. The project made subtle changes to the crest, without sacrificing its look or integrity. The biggest changes were the changed typefaces and more muted colours. These changes were all logically made in order to establish a more technically sound visual product for the university (read: reproduces well for better recognition). This was the first right step, and it wa

The 2008 and proposed 2009 revisions of the Logo

s being faithfully implemented across campus. Campus signage began to change in a few places, and as recently as this Winter, commemorative signs involved with the 50th anniversary campaign were erected around Engineering and the SLC implementing the typeface found in the 2008 identity revision.

It was funny that the signs were erected this winter, though.  Throughout 2008/2009, under the lead of a new VP-External, Meg Beckel, the University was making inroads to implement a much more drastic identity. Typical bureaucratic consultations, studies and designs were made. And then, the in-house designed logo was leaked in 2009. Immediately, a shit storm ensued. The new logo and identity were absolutely horrible. The change was drastic. The logo was complicated and ditched the traditional school colours for a mess of six new ones (one per faculty). The logo was immediately panned by students, alumni and faculty and they banned together on Facebook in protest. The University had no choice but to listen (or feign listening) to students.They put the logo on hold and began a seemingly more thorough consultation process.

After the “consultation” process, the University put things on hold. Sort of. Their new consultation process pretty much involved one online survey, a Facebook group and a video explaining the University’s stance on the issue. It all seemed pretty hand wavy. Since the largest issue was with the logo itself, UW ditched the “laser filled W” but kept everything else. Everything was still going to be typset in Gotham (you can’t tell me they chose that for a reason OTHER than Obama’s campaign), each faculty got their own colour and those distinct lines stayed. So what’s the logo now? The logo is now a wordmark typset in Gotham. That’s about it. For something that seemed so important for the University, it now seemed like it was low priority. They falsely opened a dialogue for some PR-icing-on-the-cake and saved as much money as possible by sticking with the exact same identity except without a “W.”

As a student, I personally didn’t expect much more from the administration, but I was surprised that they would put so little effort into something that they openly acknowledged as being so important. An identity isn’t something that should drastically change in very short periods of time, as it was suggested by the VPX. An identity isn’t something that changes on a whim, it’s something that is recognizable and most of all, organic.

Unfortunately, the University hasn’t realized that.  They demonstrated how serious the consultation with students was during the high-school rush. With the consultation process not completed and the results not announced, the University began sending information packets to High Schools styled by the new identity. Given the probable volume and time it took to print, the University clearly moved ahead with the new look before even considering the results of any consultation. Lanyards and other items were for sale at Retail Services and the uwaterloo youtube site was launched with the new identity (funny enough, they used a “W” as their avatar before some students pointed it out).

This leaves the University in a mess. There are prominent remnants of various different identity revisions across campus. Even significant signage like at the North and South Ring Road entrances are using the old crest. There’s a 2008 revision crest near UW plaza and navigation signage in Eidetic. Commemorative signs continue to be erected adorned with Eidetic, and building signs are Helvetica (will they be changed to Gotham?). Promotional garbage is being produced with the 2009 revision while old business cards and stationary haven’t been depleted. The University doesn’t know who it is visually – maybe they should have focused on how to figure who they actually are.