As we reported last term, the University of Waterloo is again attempting to redefine their branding. We now have a better idea of what they are hoping to do now that some of their material has undergone the new facelift.
The primary change in their design is that they have married the formerly-deprecated shield with the currently used Waterloo wordmark, creating a bizarre juxtaposition between the traditional logo retired in 2011 and the modernized one which replaced it. Their branding is, in the future, to move more towards a centralized black and gold in which the faculties are supposed to move away from their distinctive colour scheme. This has slowly crept into marketing during the term, notably showing up in all the university’s signage on Canada Day and making its way into advertisements like those received this term in The Iron Warrior. What makes it even more confusing is that it’s inconsistent. Some images of the logo (like that in the Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship, and Technology Centre advertisement around campus and in this issue) show a one-line wordmark attached to the top of the shield, followed by a wordy description of the functional unit (e.g. faculty), which can then be followed by another wordy description of the department. This version evokes a Harvard-style hierarchy-based system for determining how the wordmark is laid out, emphasizing levels in an attempt to demonstrate prestige. The other version merely combines the wordmark and shield together, but when each is used, it is inconsistent and it becomes confusing to figure out when each one is appropriate.
Their reasoning suggests this is to make it clearer that Waterloo is a unified university internationally, yet their move diminishes from what made Waterloo’s marketing unique. While it might have received some initial skepticism, the shieldless and bold image the university gave itself earned admiration from the student body and others in the university’s community. The distinctive faculty-based colour scheme resonates well with a student body that associates itself more as arts and engineering students than they do as general Waterloo students, and makes marketing to future students and others in the university community easier to accomplish by associating similar courses of study in colour-coded, distinctive groups. The colours also help market these grouped courses of study more effectively to the interested groups, as a student interested in the environment will likely find the faculty’s leafy green colour appeals to their interests, much as a science student will associate better with that faculty’s laboratory-like blue colour.
Rallying students behind their faculties allows for building of spirit among fellow classmates and whether that’s done between faculties or within them, there is some likelihood of people becoming more excited in university events, which in any sense is good when Waterloo is often picked on for having a low level of school spirit. This could be attributed to the lack of strong athletics teams and unifying, school-wide initiatives, but a splash of paint on the university’s branding won’t help build bonds between students and diminishes the individuality of each of the groups on campus. More effort should be put into figuring out what kind of events and projects can be put into building cross-faculty support, instead of building school unity though a similar colour scheme.
However you feel about their branding attempt, it seems more valuable for Waterloo to just find something they like and stick with it for a bit. It takes a long time for people to grow to like something, particularly in a university and it takes even longer to finally get everyone to start using it. The brand developed around Waterloo for the past two years has gained traction, acceptance, and love from the people who have grown accustomed to it and appreciate its attempt to embrace its intelligence while not keeping attached to stuffy and traditional cruft. The shield doesn’t have to go away, as the seal has been an excellent resource to use as a watermark (one of the only parts about the website redesign I’ve really appreciated) and as a symbol for classier or prestigious articles like degrees and official gifts. Perhaps, in time, Waterloo will realize that the reason it attracted the people it does is not because it’s a baby cousin to centuries-old McGills and Harvards, but because it’s a nimble, forward-thinking society that keeps strong connections to industry while proving it’s own in the research field.
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