If there’s one symbol that anyone appreciates Dalhousie for, it’s the distinct eagle and defend. Taken from the college seal, the Dalhousie “crest” has been a main component of the university’s symbol for the past 35 a long time, visible on countless symptoms, posters, merchandise and internet websites.
But it has not looked specifically the exact same throughout people 35 many years. More than time, it is turn out to be additional streamlined and simplified, and some aspects have modified form, as evolutions to Dal’s glimpse and experience have sought to align the university’s brand name with a total suite of transformations — societal, actual physical, digital and everything in among.
On the still left is the formal Dalhousie seal, from which the eagle and shield are taken. The shields that adhere to date to 1989, 2004 and 2014, respectively.
“A manufacturer is about how we categorical ourselves to the world,” explains Matt Proctor, Dalhousie’s assistant vice-president of Communications, Marketing and Artistic Services. “Our brand name id is designed up of all the tiny cues that will make an individual think, ‘Hey, this feels like Dalhousie University.’”
That includes the brand, of system, but also a whole ton far more: fonts, colours, structure templates and even advice on how to categorical what can make Dalhousie distinctive to its constituents — whether they’re wanting to study at Dal, work at Dal, donate or volunteer, partner or interact with the university in some other way.
“All these model features incorporate to make sure that Dalhousie is recognizable, wherever you come throughout us,” states Proctor.
That’s why the new search for Dalhousie’s brand — launched now as portion of the most up-to-date refresh of Dal’s brand name — is nevertheless instantaneously recognizable as the iconic eagle and shield. But what is diverse about it is emblematic of the method for the manufacturer refresh total: cleaner, less complicated, greater created to fulfill the requirements of an progressively digital world and built close to the latest website accessibility expectations. Certainly, the new brand is getting touted as additional available than in advance of.
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Dal President Deep Saini states this is an suitable time for this “freshening up” of Dal’s manufacturer — following Dal 200 celebrations in 2018, the launch of the 3rd Century Assure strategic system last 12 months, and progressively requires for digitalization that improve the way people engage and raises the bar for accessibility.
“This is an remarkable milestone as we forge ahead in satisfying our shared assure and demonstrating the globe what Dalhousie has to offer you,” says Dr. Saini.
A new outlook on Dal’s guarantee
3rd Century Guarantee, Dal’s strategic plan, asks what it would choose to lift Dalhousie into the local community of the world’s biggest universities, and outlines procedures to enable obtain that ambitious purpose. Together with this work, the workforce at Communications, Internet marketing and Innovative Companies (CMC) has engaged in an update to the Dalhousie manufacturer to match — a refined and refreshed expression of what it is that will make Dalhousie distinct, and why it suggests so considerably to so lots of individuals.
“In the several discussions we have had more than the earlier a number of months — with stakeholders on campus, in the neighborhood, with potential learners — we’ve listened to the same issues around and above all over again: a self-assurance in what Dalhousie is capable of, and that individuals want to listen to us converse about it,” claims Proctor. “They’ve asked us to be bolder, get to even further and be a lot more inclusive.”
Performing with local marketing and advertising company M5, the CMC crew relied on present and new investigation with vital audiences and stakeholders to build an up to date visual manufacturer id, obviously defined positioning and a distinct brand guarantee, all meant to support condition and advise how students, companions and collaborators knowledge the university.
“In an ever more digital world, the items of a model will need to do the job throughout platforms and be conveniently recognizable no matter wherever you encounter them,” suggests Damian Bonse, govt innovative director at M5. “This new manufacturer considers al this and provides it together with the amazing, everyday living-shifting times, discoveries and understanding that make Dalhousie University these types of an excellent position.”
The manufacturer is created on a basis of 3rd Century Promise’s five pillars and the 4 associated pillars of the brand — elements of Dalhousie that define and condition people’s practical experience with the college. These include things like:
- Exploration affect: A world of change starts at Dalhousie
- Tutorial excellence: Built to aid brilliant minds excel
- Participating neighborhood: Local community is a lot more than basically the house we share
- Extraordinary area: A place loaded with transformative times
On this foundation, the brand adds persona characteristics and a positioning statement outlining what Dal can uniquely supply its college students and its communities. And at the pretty major of the model is its promise — a commitment that sets the expectation of what people can count on from the university:
Dalhousie College is in which infinite ambition meets global impact
“This is a put where exceptional encounters appear alongside one another,” claims Proctor. “There’s no shortage of means in which Dal delivers with each other the greatest of both worlds, whether or not it’s its dimensions, its aim on the two investigate and teaching, or in the approaches it enables students to bridge perspectives and disciplines.”
Creating an effect
Why does a university have a model in the very first place?
The globe is elaborate and cluttered, and the ways folks will learn about or come across Dalhousie and its work are diverse and complex as nicely. In opposition to this backdrop, consistency and alignment are key. Irrespective of whether it is with an ad or a web page, a brochure or a small business card, the manufacturer makes certain individuals acknowledge “Dalhousie University” when they see it.
To carry out this, Dalhousie’s brand name refresh incorporates a thorough manufacturer procedure constructed with equally alignment and flexibility in brain. Amongst the brand’s a lot more novel attributes is a new form — dubbed the “Dalcon” (brief for “Dalhousie icon”) — that’s borrowed from the logo’s eagle and functions as a “brand cue” across the innovative system. And from colours to graphics, a strong emphasis on accessibility flows by means of all components.
“Especially as we work in an ever more electronic world, it is essential that the way we talk is accessible to everyone,” claims Keri Irwin, Dalhousie’s director of internet marketing. “That’s why we have prioritized a much more legible font, colors that far better fulfill visible requirements, and other modifications that align with Internet Material Accessibility Suggestions.”
Which brings us back to the brand by itself. Provided that the way persons encounter Dal’s symbol could be as massive as a billboard or as small as a smartwatch display screen, the refreshed brand aligns with broader trends towards simplifying logos and structure. With cleaner, rounded and geometric lines, the logo aims to really feel far more approachable and modern although also assembly the necessities of digital communications. In screening, individuals advised Dal’s project team that the refreshed brand feels bolder, extra lively, progressive, assured, engaging, unique, and gives the impression of good quality when when compared with other college logos. There is also, for the first time, a uniquely worldwide variation of the logo to situation Dalhousie between its Canadian peers globally.
The revised emblem will also provide as inspiration for two special artwork initiatives getting commissioned to create much more inclusion and diversity in Dal’s visible representation: a person in partnership with the Mi’kmaq community, and the other in partnership with the African Nova Scotian group.
“While we often attempt to generate text and visuals that characterize the numerous group that makes Dalhousie outstanding, we also figure out there is far more we can do,” claims Julie Hallett, associate director of manufacturer and internet marketing, who says even further aspects on the art initiatives will be shared in the months to arrive. “We are both equally grateful for these engagements and psyched to see this do the job come to daily life above the subsequent many months.”
Bringing the manufacturer to daily life
In more to accessibility and inclusion, sustainability is also top of head for the new manufacturer. CMC is asking people today to use up present brand resources prior to going onto new kinds, saving both of those costs and paper/printing.
Men and women will see the new manufacturer resources in digital areas very first (as they’re quickest and simplest to update) but before long it will start displaying up in all types of other spots. The CMC crew is also welcoming aid in determining supplies that should really be current. If you see some thing that calls for an update, you can permit the crew know by emailing dalbrand@dal.ca.
Find out a lot more: Take a look at the refreshed Dal brand name
Flashback file: Picking Dal’s logo
Dalhousie Information, 1988
In 1988, Dalhousie Information ran a piece inviting members of the Dal local community to mail — certainly, aged fashioned mail — their sights for what really should be Dalhousie’s brand.
At situation was the point that there was additional than 90 diverse logos in use by several Colleges, departments and models. Howard Clark, university president at the time, recounted that in one particular working day he acquired 5 pieces of mail with 5 distinct Dalhousie logos. “You would swear they’d arrive from 5 various institutions,” he mentioned.
Amongst the extra intriguing logos circulating at the time integrated many can take on squares and strains, a unicorn head — like the eagle and defend, also taken from the Dalhousie crest — and a trident.
A committee chaired by Dean of Medicine Jock Murray was tasked with sorting by the a variety of selections and, in 1989, the eagle and shield was officially part of Dal’s initial regular brand.
