Plymouth uni – better than Harvard for design?
11th November
Words are half of what graphic design is. Yet it’s odd how rarely copywriting is used as part of the design process as opposed to being part of the design’s content. This itself is separate from how typography uses words to the design’s advantage. Plymouth University has recently re-branded to add a sense of a collaborative nature and in the hope of driving students to proclaim ‘I’m studying x with Plymouth University.’ In other words the new design element is the word ‘with’.
The design itself is a collaboration between two agencies and you can read more here.
Compared to the University’s old logo it feels like a breath of fresh air:
As you can see, it’s one of those flexible rather than fixed identity solutions and I am sure this helped the University feel it was getting all its ‘values’ out there within the identity work. Some thoughts on kerning aside I like it. It’s bright, modern and looks nice on the homepage:
Which made me think that in these competitive times, presumably Plymouth is aiming to look appealing to prospective students who might be considering taking on a lifetime’s debt to attend the place. One imagines the famous universities can afford to coast a little on this score and so it proves. Amazing how unbelievably dated and dull the famous institutions below are on their home pages:
Now, I’m not suggesting they need to get all jiggy and ‘with it’. But really, what a let down they all are – on graphics alone, Plymouth stands apart. I had expected that, with all those great sweatshirts and lettermen iconography one sees over the years that at least our American cousins might have had a little more personality.
Anyway, back to copywriting as a design ingredient. A favourite example of mine is this ‘does what it says on the tin’ example from Habitat in the 60s…
1 Comment
Anon
December 1, 2011 10:46 am
I’ve worked at the university as both staff and student during the re-branding exercise and there is a mixed reaction amongst all. I know a student in the focus group who said they didn’t respond well, I many of my friends think “it’s stupid” but I also know staff whom it has grown upon and I may have even met someone who loves it.
Personally I think having multiple Xs in ” X with…” is a sure-fire way of diluting any a brand identity. Brands are meant to make faceless institutions personable and this person says “I want to be cool and I want you to do things with me” a bit like that clingy friend you never really liked.
Long-established universities like Harvard, Cambridge, Princeton, etc. are built upon tradition, money and top-of-the-league academia–they don’t need to modernise their brands to attract students. Learning to them is serious business whereas ‘Learn’ is not one of the 9 default words shipped with the WITH PLYMOUTH UNIVERSITY brand.
I agree it’s nice to see some effort put into design and whilst comparing with Harvard might make for a catchy blog title I think a more valid comparison would be universities in the same league as Plymouth.
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