I am occasionally asked to produce logos for academic projects. Here is a small selection.
I am occasionally asked to produce logos for academic projects. However projects at The Open University are not supposed to have logos – at least not the last time I checked the brand guidelines on the topic.
The desire to form an identity around a project is natural as it can help bond project teams around a common purpose. I do resist the notion that projects have a brand, I know a brand to be something very different and not suited to a project. What is usually being requested – perhaps in a clumsy fashion – is a project identity.
The brand is the university. Everything we do at the university is either a product of the parent brand or a partnership with multiple brands. These brands have existed for a while, have equity and vested interests. Projects are reliant on the brand for authenticity and trust. However, in recent years – probably in parallel with the rise of social media – individual academics have seen their equity rise as they foster online communities and develop reputations independently of the university.
The tension between individual academic identities and registered brands is leading to an interesting and challenging point on the horizon. Are universities going to become educational brokers with pedagogic facilitators competing for students or will each university decide on a strategy more suited to the broader needs of a student in an era of rising learning costs, housing costs etc etc?
In the meantime, I am occasionally asked to produce project logos…..