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University Affairs deputy editor Léo Charbonneau shares his insights on interesting trends and happenings in Canada’s university sector.
New University of Waterloo logo goes viral
University of Waterloo's proposed new logo.
A new logo for the University of Waterloo, created as part of a larger rebranding effort, was not scheduled to make its first official appearance until the fall, and yet is has already created quite a stir. It is an object lesson in the power and peril of social networking.
According to a summary of the events here, the new logo appears to have been accidentally leaked on or about July 15. Within days it was all over the Internet via Twitter (hash tags #uwlogo and #uwlogogate), which in turn led to the creation of a Facebook group by “students and alumni against the new University of Waterloo logo.” By the end of last week, the Facebook group had some 5,000 members. The story was also picked up by the Financial Post Executive Blog.
The reviews coming in from students and some alumni and faculty were strongly negative, if not sophomoric. The logo inspired video parodies (here and here) and an online poll (with 90 percent preferring the old logo versus 10 percent for the new).
The university responded with an article in the online University of Waterloo Bulletin this past Friday explaining the history behind the university branding effort and an explanation of the logo design.
The article quotes Meg Beckel, vice-president, external relations:
“After 131 iterations,” Beckel says, “we came up with the new market-oriented identity system – the new logo, wordmark, font, the use of coloured lines that will help to represent the faculties. We reviewed these elements with the same key audiences, and overwhelmingly the response was positive, although there were a few dissenting voices.”
“We will begin to share the new visual identity system with campus groups now, in preparation for a reveal and story in the November issue of Waterloo Magazine. This process is key to getting feedback to the design direction, language and implications.” A town hall meeting to be held later in October will be open to all. The “hard” launch of the identity system will “happen throughout 2010 to give us time to roll it out incrementally and cost-effectively.”
Ms. Beckel was also featured in a university-produced video again patiently explaining the process and rationale behind the rebranding effort.
For my part, I think the student reaction was of the knee-jerk variety, with what seemed to me little reflection or mature analysis. It all had the sense of “isn’t this fun! Let’s get the administration!”
The students could legitimately argue that they had no opportunity to offer their feedback in an official manner. However, the carefully planned, orderly process for the unveiling of the rebranding effort was short-circuited by the leaked logo.
And, yes, I do like the new logo. I think it’s bold and interesting. I second the Brand New blogger, who writes: “Dear Waterloo-people-in-charge: Stick to your plan. Don’t succumb.”
What’s your view?
Comments
21 Responses to “New University of Waterloo logo goes viral”
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This is the problem with some of media that has been directed towards the entire campaign (for lack of a better word). The obviously take the points they want to, showing a “wee bit” of bias for leaving out other points.
When reading your article, and when you spoke directly about the facebook group, calling “the student reaction was of the knee-jerk variety, with what seemed to me little reflection or mature analysis.”
Have you actually taken a look at the group? I’m just wondering, because you may have just glanced at it, saw the pictures people have submitted, and made your article based strictly on that. Don’t get me wrong, some of the pictures are very funny, and some are clever. But mature? No.
If you go into the discussion boards, there are many well founded, thought out, civil arguments. Take a look. People actually form coherent sentences with information to back it up. Crazy, yes? Seems a lot less knee-jerk when people take the time to write up short story length responses when they could be participating in other activities of little to no maturity.
The posts and responses we’ve been receiving really show the students have put much thought and deliberation when forming their arguments.
Obviously I’m biased in this entire cause, but when you make some statements that could be at best half truths, it really shows which team you are swinging for. But then again, I actually have a stake when it comes to The University of Waterloo.
I think one point you are missing, Waterloo students rarely speak up in such an organized way. They rarely show interest in the institution as they are here for 4 months and working somewhere else for another 4. This is much different than anything I have seen at UW in 9 years.
I agree that the group dynamics have changed. It seems like the majority of students in the group is now there to simply ridicule the logo. The band wagon effect is apparent and
I have left that Facebook group for this reason. Yes, humour and immaturity can bring people together, but it isn’t productive. Hopefully, this rebranding issue will increase student awareness about other issues on campus as well.
The new logo is not appropriate for an institution, and more importantly we had no say to this change. All we student is asking where is our say?
I think it looks spiffy. My gut reaction was positive.
“the carefully planned, orderly process for the unveiling of the rebranding effort was short-circuited by the leaked logo.”
Carefully planned? if machiavellianism and secrecy was the plan, maybe. The town hall meeting may be open to all, but I do not see them seriously considering to incorporate feedback into their designs- not when they plan for the meeting to be only leave two months before starting to use the logo.
The video was patient, yes, but it was condescending and patronizing- nothing was said to address student concerns. In the video, meg explains the rationale behind changing the logo- but in the video, she even admits the new logo does not invoke the attributes her team wants the public to see in the university! Then, why was this design still kept?
Hmmm, this article is not biased at all.
Many students and alumni believe the logo is terrible. Compare it to the logo of other institutions and it is plainly not of the same ilk. Those responsible can “explain patiently” why this is a good logo to those of us who only respond with “sophmoric” “negativity”, but the reality is, most of us don’t want a giant laser W showing up on our professional LinkedIn profiles.
To insist that students are owed a voice in such a rebranding is to totally misunderstand what the process entails and what its goals are. I have no doubt that this logo would be much worse (and would have cost 3-4 times as much) if everyone who doesn’t like it had had their say.
The exercise in synthesis and simplification needed to generate a strong logo simply does not allow for everyone to have their say. Be reasonable; no logo could ever have satisfied everyone’s personal tastes. Luckily, that isn’t a logo’s mandate either.
I understand the Waterloo is a University of transformation and change, however the old logo for the students represents a tradition we would like to keep. The old logo is professional and represents Waterloo’s history. As many students are raising their voices against the new logo, many others think that the “new and improved” logo is simply a joke. In other words, not many people believe that our University would actually create a such a simple and rather distasteful logo. A “W” does not represent the students of Waterloo and they have made their opinion very clear. I will not be wearing any school sweaters with the colourful W. I have pride in my school and I do not believe that design creatively captures the students ideals. As 90% of the students must surely be making decisions based on an immature judgement then what exactly is this article stating about the students of our school?
There have been thousands of posts with constructive, detailed, mature and professional critiques of the logo and most of them are still negative. These responses come from people in industry, current students, professors, staff, etc. Yes, there will obviously be humorous videos and images made on this issue, but what do you expect from a bunch of university students?
Try to get the full picture before making posts like this in the future.
Léo Charbonneau of Margin Notes responds:
Well, it seems my comment about students’ reactions to the new logo lacking “reflection or mature analysis” hit a nerve. I acknowledge that I drew this impression more from the Twitter banter on the Internet than from the Facebook group’s discussions, some of which are indeed thoughtful and heartfelt.
One other thing I should have mentioned in my post – to the positive – is that this whole episode does demonstrate that many students do have a strong emotional attachment to their institution, which is heartening and an important reminder to university administrators that a university is, after all, about its students. That being said, gee, this is the issue that students felt compelled to rally around? I mean, it’s just a logo! Are there not more substantive issues that students might find common cause to support?
A logo supports and unites everyone together into one group. The university of waterloo’s name and reputation stand for the 27000 some odd students who take pride in their school. Other issues may include different faculty and clubs, but for that many students to have a negative reaction to one logo that should be listened to, and I still feel as though university officials are brushing off our complaints. This is the logo that will be on my degree when I graduate. Therefore how my university experience is being judged by prospective employers, it would be hard for them to take the new logo seriously. This worry is something all university students are feeling, changing the logo is changing the identity of our school and the students. We never asked for this to occur. That may answer your question.
There’s a lot of overanalysis here. Comitee dynamics, respect, power.
Let’s get back to the basics. The logo looks horrible! It sucks! Just look at it! It’s downright comical.
The students know this. It’s a joke so they make jokes about it. Then that’s used to discredit them with accusations of immaturity?
Talk about a complete lack of respect. First you give them clown shoes. Then you tell them not to joke about looking like a clown.
If we really want to promote respect for this university, how about some repect for it’s members.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I really don’t like the new logo either, but for the record, it will NOT appear on your degree.
I still think that the old logo is a better reflection of what Waterloo stands for. Everyone in the world knows the old logo very well. Waterloo is a respectable university and the logo is a representation of the institution. Why change something that is good. Is it really worth it? Perhaps, the people who are involve in these process should think a few thousand times if these change is really necessary.
Thank you for listening.
If this new logo is not “professional” enough to be put on our degrees and certificates, then WHY do we want it representing our school? Look at the greatest schools in the world… Harvard, Yale, Oxford, whatever comes to mind. They have strong traditions and their school logo and colours have a sense of pride associated with them. I would not be proud to wear this new Waterloo logo on a shirt, or have it displayed on signs or brochures around campus.
From a current UW student
The new logo is hideous. It looks like something cobbled from an early 90s era screen saver.
I hope that it ends up in the same dustbin as the new coke, the once proposed use of “Monday” as the new name for a major consulting company, and other bad marketing ideas.
As someone who worked for a large corporation that went through a corporate logo change, I would strongly caution AGAINST making this radical change.
I suppose a cynical view would be that anyone working as VP of external relations has to promote dissatisfaction with the status quo in order to justify their own job. But consider the following:
1. There is a cost associated with changing logos. This includes designing and deploying the new logo where it is curently used (stationary, signage, fliers, Yellow Pages, updating servers, …). Sounds like a lot of consulting work for someone.
2. Even if you think you understand the cost of introducing such a change, you should expect surprises. For example, the corporation I worked for made the unpleasant discovery that the new logo’s colour combinations did not photocopy well in certain conditions and had to re-work it.
2. By itself, a change in logo will NOT raise Waterloo out of 10th spot in terms of public awareness; it would take a substantial accompanying advertising campaign to accomplish this. Perhaps that is the intent, but then wouldn’t that sort of money be better spent on improving the education that is offered?
3. No matter how clever you think the new ‘W’ logo is, it is a knee-jerk response to what is currently trendy in graphic design . Within 5 years it will start looking dated, and in 10 years it will look embarassingly out-dated, at which time the logo re-design cycle would presumably repeat. If adopted, the University will be stuck with the ‘W’ logo long after Ms. Beckel has left for greener pastures. In contrast, the crest has withstood the test of time; it shouldn’t be relegated just to official diplomas.
4. Adopting the ‘W’ logo will be hugely devisive. While today’s freshmen might feel receptive towards it, I expect that many graduates and faculty members – anyone who identified with the crest – will not in general like or be able to identify with it. The ‘W’ logo disrupts continuity and undermines tradition.
5. Colour-coordinating the threads embedded in the ‘W’ with department colours is totally frivolous. Minutiae like this are only important to the proponents of the change; the public won’t care or understand.
The best that I can say for the ‘W’ logo is that the choice of sans-serif font aligns better with the image of a University having strong math and sciences disciplines than the current style does. However, this is an evolutionary, not revolutionary, change.
Sure, the “laser W” is a bit goofy. But to me it really fits Waterloo – a school that often strikes me as making forward-thinking decisions but has no sense of decorum or history whatsoever. The logo is certainly eye catching. It reminds me of the wacky Davis Centre and that hideous Pharma building that thank god went in after I left. I say the laser W is UW 100%.
Besides, I could barely remember what the old logo was. It’s not like we’re ditching the crest here people.
The new logo is simply far away from professionalism and it is not fit to University of Waterloo’s image. I personally will vote to keep the old logo and I believe that this new logo is not close enough to discuss of replacing the old one.
As a University of Waterloo student I don’t want something ‘spiffy’ representing all the hard work and accomplishments of many other students, alumni and staff. Yes, the new logo looks interesting, it is colorful and bold but it does not adequately represent a serious institution. All the students are asking is for a say in a logo that will represent them for the rest of their lives. I am proud to be part of a University who will succumb and will stop this logo, showing that they care for the opinion of their students and alumni.