Abbreviated to UWS, it is a simple little mark with a pleasantly oversized S. The inscriptional uppercase treatment of the full institution name adds a little touch of sharpness to contrast with the nice curves of the S, and also includes an echo with the italicised ‘of’ having the ‘f’ drop down nicely.
Standard university crest, drawn in a very pale way that makes it look almost like clip art. Accompanied by some puzzling graphics device, that come with an pretty literal explanation.
The geometric foundation of the design is based upon a circular form, which makes reference to the Institution’s global perspective and international reputation in teaching and research. The typographic elements demonstrate a hierarchy which promotes the importance of the location within the nomenclature. The group of circles represents the incremental growth of knowledge and experience and the progressive development of the University as an educational leader. This thematic device continues through to the linear band on the right of the Coat of Arms and describes the cyclical movement of time, indicating progression and new directions.
Interestingly, the logo as presented is claimed to
achieve an aesthetic balance and unity of form which offers versatility across the Corporate Identity Scheme.
Which I’m not entirely sure about. At present it seems there are some intriguing ideas but the elements feel disconnected. The pale treatment of the circles and linear band prevents them from tightening the rest of the logo. Unfortunately the elements seem to float around the strong traditional core of the logo without adding too much.
On the university website, a different and much tighter logo is used that eschews the graphic signifiers and is content to present a shield and the location.
Sometimes the well worn path might be better.
A typographic only logo from Abertay University, that uses a slab serif face, Serifa to state the basic information simply, with the kind of modern voice that paradoxically, a 1960s can provide. The modern serif is direct, strong and clear. A clear break with the name and crest based logo the university had previously.
There was a quirky characteristic that I noticed – that on some documents the dots over the i’s are absent yet on the website they are present. Which is the definitive logo is unclear. It seems rather an odd thing to do.
Challenging amount of location information for Strathclyde to include with a specific location followed by a more general one. Aligned to the left, and set in Meta Bold the wordmark has a clearly defined hierarchy and the condesed nature of the typeface helps to keep things tight. The typeface is a very legible and usable display face that has the suggestions of modernity but with a calming relaxed feel.
Quite a lively coat of arms in an unusual and distinctive inverted pentagon shape. There’ lots going on. There are two books, a crown, 3 Cinquefoils ,a Saltire and what appears to an ECG readout. Whilst good fun to find at larger sizes these can lose definition when smaller and the saltire becomes the dominant shape.
The pentagon shape is aligned right and the overall favoured positioning of the logo is to the bottom right of publications where it balances well in that corner.
Overall, a logo that balances the familiar need to allude to heritage with a need to be more dynamic, especially with some original choices about shapes and placement.
The following areas were identified in the corporate guidelines, outlining the rationale for the changes to the name and the logo.
I particularly like the very strong roundel where the parts of the University coat of arms have been brought together in a monochrome diagram that reminds me a little of a sporting badge. This feel is created by the strong uppercase around the imagery. The bespoke font (called Gordon) are is a compressed sans-serif that works well in the confines of the circle. The Os and Ds reminded me of DIN Mittelschrift and when looking at the DIN variations one can see it’s almost a combination of both.
The purple is also a welcome break with the usual blues and reds the seem prevalent in the sector.
Overall, a nice tension between the commonplace crest imagery with a subtly dynamic and strong display typeface makes this an enjoyable and distinctive treatment.
Similar to the previously reviewed Aston University logo, this modern university firmly breaks with tradition and uses an abstract, dynamic shape to create a signature identity. Also, an echo of Aston, the Napier shape isn’t just randomly picked out, but was originally abstracted from the N of the Napier. An arcane fact and certainly one wouldn’t be aware of without the brand guidelines to reveal it.
Recently rebranded to Edinburgh Napier University from plain Napier University, the triangle is anchored by a gradient on it’s bottom point, and is considered an integral part of the logo. This simple shadow brings some interesting tension to the logo.
The guidelines tell us that Interstate is the chosen font. A modern choice with the angular slices from some ascenders and descenders perhaps a nice echo of the triangle. the large x-height and narrow characters of Interstate help minimise the space required by the logo with the recent addition of Edinburgh to the name.
The typeface is a solid serif, with too much graduation that treads the well worn path of uppercase serif font and a coat of arms, good use is made of the differing lengths of the text to bring the elements closer and play against each other, creating a tightly integrated block.
The guillotine shape acts offsets the overall block effect, and is mostly used as a tab at the top of a typical design; slightly more difficult when bleeding to the edge is impractical, but a keyline device is then used to define the shape.
There is a rather lovely illustration of the coat of arms and explanation in a heritage guide to the history of the institution. The version rendered in the logo is in a clear linear style that benefits from being displayed large, but can cope with the inevitable reductions.
A common problem with universities – they have a tradition that they would like to refer to, but would also like to present some dynamism and development. Heriot Watt have chosen a device to give the restrained and somewhat conservative logo some tension.
Edinburgh’s coat of arms is a pretty bold graphic device in it’s original form.There’s a saltire, a thistle, a castle and a book. The saltire in the background with a book rendered in the centre of the circle, on an almost square shield reinforces the symmetry and makes it a strong arrangement. Edinburgh have wisely chosen to build on that and used a classical serif font with Perpetua). It has quite pronounced serifs and there’s not too much stroke contrast. An italic ‘of’ provides a bit of a flourish and grammatical emphasis.
The coat of arms works especially well in monochrome, where the horizontal lines in the background add an almost engraved effect, especially at smaller sizes. I prefer it to the colour version where the red ‘pops’ and catches the eye. In some of the examples of design in the styleguide that use the red it works well when there is red used as highlights in the rest of the design. At first glance it seems that the text ‘university of edinburgh’ around the circle might be superfluous, but I think it acts to take the edge of the circle, giving a subtle feathering.
Interestingly, there is a separate web version of the logo with it’s own set of guidelines. A sans-serif face is used in place of Perpetua. It looks like Bell Gothic, and enables the text to be smaller and bolder. The detail in the serifs would struggle to be clear at smaller screen resolutions. It’s good to see consideration give to the challenge of maintaining a brand in a different medium.
Another variation centred around the roundel is the guidance on the use of the logo within the university schools. The school name is to be written in uppercase Swiss Bold to the right of the logo. The guidelines give four examples with the various school names spread over multiple lines. The effect is very direct. It declares the subject area very confidently, almost becoming a mini logo in itself.
I like the way that Edinburgh have embraced some of the challenges and different requirements demanded of a logo and sought to create some design directions that can be explored, whilst maintianing a thread back to the original source. There are the usual restrictions on what’s not allowed with the logo but it’s nice to see as many creative suggestions for the logo.
The shield is taken from the University coat of arms, topped off with founding date of the original university. The University’s Branding Toolkit document describes the two elements of the design as the shield and the namestyle.
The decision to use a full colour version of the shield I think is a little daunting since there are six colours to be reproduced. Printed at a large scale on some quality paper, you’d get the benefit, but slightly more difficult to translate when smaller. The single colour versions, especially in the University’s burgundy, work well. Reducing the palette integrates the elements better, but I guess that’s the trade-off.
I discovered that there’s quite a demanding collection of history to be crammed into the shield, with the various elements being described on Wikipedia
The university’s coat of arms display the founders and locations of the previous two colleges. Top left is the arms of the burgh of Old Aberdeen. Top right is that of George Keith, the fifth Earl Marischal. Bottom left belongs to Bishop William Elphinstone. The bottom right quarter is a simplified version of the usual symbol (of three castles) representing the burgh and now City of Aberdeen.
So the shield is essentially four combined into one.
The typography of the namestyle looks like an inscriptional typeface, with pretty even weight throughout and understated serifs, which evoke appropriate connotations of age and longevity. It also dovetails subtly with the Granite City nickname amongst those given to the city. All uppercase, with nicely proportioned ‘of’ staying out of the way. I liked the way the top of the wordmark aligns with the centre of the shield, anchoring along that norizontal.
If the typography and shield weren’t enough to let you know you are looking at the mark of an august institution, then there’s a reminder across the top of the shield with date of the foundation of the University. Spaced out almost like the crenellation of a castle wall.
Overall, a solid understated treatment that seeks to draw upon a long established history. Slightly garish colour notwithstanding, the mark doesn’t need to try too hard to impress, preferring to be traditional, serious and venerable ; prized attributes to in the educational sector.