uWaterloo.ca – UW’s New Face?

It was only last summer that The Iron Warrior interviewed VP of External Relations, Meg Beckel, regarding the university’s controversial new branding campaign. She had talked candidly about the usage of bold lettering and colour as a way to build on our image of originality and innovation. At the time, it had only been a year since the first images of the school’s new identity had emerged; these were images that had left the student body upset and divided.

The latest renovation in this rebranding process has been no different with regards to the response it has received. The school’s new website, now open to the web, not only provides a fresh face for the public to view, but also gives the students and faculty a greater understanding of where the branding is headed as a whole. The site’s new layout has taken inspiration from clean, modernistic themes, and uses the straight lines and solid colours described by the school’s aesthetics guidelines.

Feedback has ranged from glowing praise to virulent disapproval, with many criticisms referencing the main page’s striking similarity to MIT’s web portal. Some have merely objected to the page’s layout, stating that the darkness of the theme and the main content’s anchor to the left is unattractive. New criticisms about the overall brand have also come to light. The main web-page currently includes an amateur photograph taken by Jana Kriz, and encourages students to submit their own photos and perspectives on the school. It’s supposed to be a step towards a more interactive experience; they want students to contribute to UW’s identity in the hopes that they will be more inclined to claim it as their own. Ironically, many students have begun to state that this identity, in light of the new website, does not represent them or their perspectives; it seems to them as if the University of Waterloo has shed its skin as a more comprehensive institution in favour of a colder, more technical one.

The positive reactions to the layout have been nearly equal in number, however, with focus on the clean new menus and eclectic look. Many are relieved that the school has finally opted for a makeover, stating that that the old design lacked character and made the university seem uninspired.

Whether or not the new aesthetic is seen favourably, the one thing that can be agreed upon is that the university’s proclivity for presenting unfinished ideas is not optimal. The new layout is still highly buggy and in great need of tweaking- aside from the fact that it is the only page on the site that has actually changed (with the exception of page headers, that is). While it is understandable that UW designers would want to test the waters, an institution’s website is essentially its face to the world; it provides everyone who visits with a first impression, and first impressions are the hardest to shake. A completed redesign would have given everyone- students, faculty, and outsiders alike- an even better idea of UW’s vision for itself in the world. Instead, the decision was made to display a work in progress, and the result was nitpicking and an unnecessary focus on things that won’t really matter in the end.