The University of Texas at Austin
Designing a new identity that feels like it’s always been there
Designing a new identity that feels like it’s always been there
Designing a new identity that feels like it’s always been there
Designing a new identity that feels like it’s always been there
Designing a new identity that feels like it’s always been there
The Challenge
UT Austin’s policy regarding the branding of every aspect of its institution (except athletics) was like the wild west: anything goes. Over time, the over-branding of every school, department, and group on campus eroded the recognizability of the institution.
As if branding something as emotional as a University wasn’t hard enough, the adoption of our system across campus wouldn’t be required. Our challenge was to make our rebrand irresistable.
UT Austin’s policy regarding the branding of every aspect of its institution (except althletics) was like the wild west: anything goes. Over time, the over-branding of every school, department, and group on campus eroded the recognizability of the institution.
As if branding something as emotional as a University wasn’t hard enough, the adoption of our system across campus wouldn’t be required. Our challenge was to make our rebrand irresistable.
UT Austin’s policy regarding the branding of every aspect of its institution (except althletics) was like the wild west: anything goes. Over time, the over-branding of every school, department, and group on campus eroded the recognizability of the institution.
As if branding something as emotional as a University wasn’t hard enough, the adoption of our system across campus wouldn’t be required. Our challenge was to make our rebrand irresistable.
UT Austin’s policy regarding the branding of every aspect of its institution (except althletics) was like the wild west: anything goes. Over time, the over-branding of every school, department, and group on campus eroded the recognizability of the institution.
As if branding something as emotional as a University wasn’t hard enough, the adoption of our system across campus wouldn’t be required. Our challenge was to make our rebrand irresistable.
UT Austin’s policy regarding the branding of every aspect of its institution (except althletics) was like the wild west: anything goes. Over time, the over-branding of every school, department, and group on campus eroded the recognizability of the institution.
As if branding something as emotional as a University wasn’t hard enough, the adoption of our system across campus wouldn’t be required. Our challenge was to make our rebrand irresistable.
My Role
Lead Designer
+ identity concept thru development
+ brand architecture
+ brand guidelines
Context
The University of Texas at Austin is a tier-one public research institution that aspired to be a globally recognized public university peer to the Ivy’s.
While UT Austin had impressive stats that should have been able to attract the world’s top talent in its own right, it faced a number of challenges that prevented its academic brand from standing out.
(1) UT Austin Campus (2) Milieu of University logos
Research
UT’s lack of brand standards meant that every college, school, and academic unit designed a logo for itself. The collective milieu of logos diminished the recognizability of the University’s brand.
However, research showed that despite the impressive reputations of the well-known colleges on campus, the general public, donors, and alumni cared more about the University than any one college. This insight played a valuable political role in rolling out the new brand.
Additionally, the University’s athletic brand, the Texas Longhorns, was so prolific and eminently recognizable that it became the de-facto symbol of the institution as a whole.
This presented two challenges. The Longhorn symbol was off-limits as it is technically trademarked and reserved for athletic/spirit usage and not for academics.
Secondly, the Longhorn is too regional and its associations were not aligned with the desired positioning—a tier-one research university with a global reach.
(1) UT seal (2) UT seal variations
Strategy
In the same way that the Longhorn served UT Athletics, we needed to design a singular symbol to stand for “tier one research.”
Rather than inventing a new symbol, we identified the shield contained within the University’s seal as the perfect symbol to represent the institution.
The seal and shield were reproduced in a variety of iterations around campus. This meant that it had inherent equity without being so sacred in its design that we couldn’t adapt it for our needs.
(1) Matthew Johnson carving Sectra in limestone (2) typographic reference from Grilli Type for Sectra
Design
The shield was modified to look less like a badge, simplified to work in a variety of media and scales, and embedded with meaning: 18 laurel leaves representing the 18 colleges and schools.
For typography, we chose Grilli Type’s Sectra for its broad-nib calligraphic features—a nod to the famed Guttenberg Bible housed at UT’s Harry Ransom Center. The design of the shield relates to features found in the font’s design.
Brand Architecture and Identity Guidelines
At the time of the project, the identity system was not going to be mandated across the University. In order to influence adoption, we needed to create a suite of logo variations that anticipated the various needs of colleges, schools, and academic units (CSUs).
Our solution was to create a comprehensive but simple system of signatures that could modulate the importance of what needed to be identified (University or CSU) in any given piece of collateral based on the context of use.
The comprehensive identity guidelines can be found here: brand.utexas.edu/identity
Outcomes
After the brand identity was successfully tested without any hiccups, it was rolled out with voluntary adoption by a vast majority of Colleges and Schools.
Now, the identity has been formally mandated and the system continues to find permanence across campus.
The rebrand was featured on Brand New, and I presented the re-brand at “First-Round” alongside Herman Dyal.
