DCU's logo: time for an upgrade?

rigumagoo

I have been in DCU for three- going on four- years, and there is one thing that has always bothered me about this place. It's this thing:




There is no point being coy. This logo is cheap. It is forgettable. It looks like it was spliced in from a clipart package. It has nothing to do with DCU physically. It does not represent what we do nor what we aim for, bar some generic 'forward movement'.

Let's take a look at the logos of the other major universities:


What do all of these logos have in common?
They all either symbolise what these universities do, or they physically represent the university.
In each of the above logos, every single symbol has a direct, definite meaning.
Trinity has the castle and lion, representing their British heritage. The harp represents Ireland and the book represents scholarship. Simple.
NUI Galway has the bell tower of the Quad, the original building of the campus and it's most distinctive feature.

Our logo has nothing like this. Walk around our campus. What is by far the most dominant colour you see? Do you see any blue or yellow? Then why are these our college colours? It is as if they were assigned to us at random.
Our current logo was designed ten years ago. The job was offered as a contest between several design agencies, the only stipulation being that the final piece must cost less than £5,000. It's appearance absolutely reflects this thrift. It is time for a change. If you agree, then let's throw out some ideas. I am sure none of us are professional graphic designers, but come on, anybody can do better than this:

B0X

:P

rigumagoo

B0X wrote: »

:P

I like how UCD have redundancy built into their logo.
I can't wait to go to University College Dublin Dublin!

polkabunny

That's better

Tbh, I like DCU's logo, it's simple, understated, and it isn't ostentatious and OTT. But, that could be just me.

Urizen

I actually like our logo. While admittedly it doesn't scream 'university', it's recognisable and... For lack of a better word, swooshy.

niamhzie

Urizen wrote: »

swooshy

just the word i would use!

H2G2

Here is the press release from 11 years ago about the new logo. See if you can decipher it into real English...

The old logo was created twelve years ago when DCU received its university status and was transformed from being an institute of higher education. The logo followed a traditional university style using a crest and Times Roman font. At the time of its creation, it was important for the logo to place DCU in the same category as other universities.

Now DCU finds itself at a new stage of development. Instead of showing itself as part of the establishment, DCU wants to portray its distinguishing features and set itself out from the competition through the radical new focus set out in the strategic plan.

In briefing designers we set out four criteria for the new corporate identity for Dublin City University. It was to be visually attractive; reflect the corporate objectives of the university and incorporate DCU's core values. It also had to have the versatility to be used in conjunction with individual identities for various colleges, schools and centres that are linked or part of the university and across various media.

After a two-stage selection process, designer Barry Bö deker of Corporate Graphics developed the final logo chosen by a university panel. The image shows DCU in a very strong, crisp, font - optima - being lifted by three rings.

We wanted to develop the name DCU as an identifiable brand. The integration of the rings into the three letters D-C-U, makes it distinctive and easily recognisable. The colours, although still versions of blue and gold, are stronger and more vibrant. The rings represent symbols that have several meanings. Market research showed us that some people see the rings as upward or forward motion, others see wave bands communicating with the outside world, others interpret them as representing learning, education and research. The rings are all these things. They also attempt to portray some of our core values that are to be open, accessible, progressive and collaborative.

It was important for DCU that the new image should reflect its youth and dynamism. We don't have hundreds of years of tradition behind us, but we are the foremost university in Ireland for science and technology and we want to retain our reputation for innovation and inter-disciplinary collaboration.

rigumagoo

H2G2 wrote: »

Here is the press release from 11 years ago about the new logo. See if you can decipher it into real English...

Basically this translates to "we couldn't think of a corporate identity that actually represented our university in any way, so we paid some designer a pittance to throw out a generic, one-size-fits-none logotype."

The only argument I hear in favour of this logo is that it is distinctive, setting us apart from other institutions. The reason it is distinctive is because it does not say "I am a university", it says "I am a mobile telecommunications company!"

vAm0sRaFa

I have to agree, I'm a 1st year for dcu and I never looked at the logo and thought, WOW those three rings are lifting those letters up!! These people must be forward thinking and innovative!!

The logo isn't much to look at, but it's not ugly either! Could definitely do with SOME actual representation of the college :P.

Cardor

Oh for god sake.. this is absolutely ridiculous!

DCU is a University, everybody knows that.. the logo doesn't define the university and what it stands for, it just makes it recognizable and DCU and UCD's logos are the most recognizable in the country because they are the most different.. DCU doesn't follow the trend of other universities by using a crest as said above.. get over it!

It isn't a big deal and if you have an issue about the crest take it up with DCU and give them a reason why it's no good!

Board's i'm afraid, isn't going to be able to change it in anyway!

Cardor

I'm going to add NUIG to the above post.. as that is also very recognizable.. the rest that were posted.. I can only tell by their abbreviations and I don't even know the centre one and top left one! :S