Think of an institution’s logo, or visual identity, as a flag. Strong visual identities are instantly recognizable and carry with them a sense of an organization’s best attributes, said Karri Hobson-Pape, vice president for UGA’s Division of Marketing & Communications.
With this in mind, the university is exploring an update of its institutional logo, which will continue to emphasize the Arch, and the possibility of establishing a well-defined, easy-to-use system to present UGA’s array of academic programs and services with greater consistency.
UGA’s official academic logo features the university’s name, the Arch and the year the university’s charter was created—1785. The current logo was designed in 1988, long before digital and social media became the dominant form of communication, and is challenging in the digital format. In addition, UGA’s various schools, colleges, departments and units use a variety of other logos on their websites and printed materials.
“The goal of this project is to refresh and standardize the treatment of the Arch logo across our colleges, schools and units,” said Hobson-Pape. “A cohesive system will save time and resources by streamlining the design process. Our intention is to develop a transition plan which is realistic and cost-effective to implement.”
In a review of 60 universities, including UGA’s peer and aspirational institutions, all have a unified visual identity system in place.
To inform and guide development, the division is seeking input from the university community concerning the preferences for logo elements and the functional needs of a system for its use. Structured public listening sessions continue to be held in March, and the remaining sessions are listed on the Master Calendar. Targeted sessions with staff, students and alumni will take place in April, in addition to focus groups with faculty moderated by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government.
Input is welcome from all stakeholders in the UGA community. Questions, comments and recommendations can be directed via email to visualidentity@uga.edu.
The Division of Marketing & Communications is working closely with the Division of Development and Alumni Relations on this process as UGA prepares to launch the public phase of a comprehensive capital campaign.
Based on the input from the university community, the division will determine key strategies to develop creative concepts for an enhanced visual identity system for the university. Those concepts will then be tested with key stakeholder groups to evaluate their effectiveness before a decision is made about the refreshed logo.
