After a long rebranding process with a hefty price tag, the University of Western Ontario has not only changed its logo, but is also formally adopting the name “Western University.”
“[The] virtual launch of Western’s new visual identity follows a year-long process, which included hundreds of hours of consultation involving more than 5,000 responses from faculty, staff, students, and alumni worldwide,” according to a media release from the university.
The cost of the rebranding totals $200,000, according to the school’s media release.
Over the past several years, the school has been most commonly referred to as “Western” and the rebranding will only permeate that.
“Western, this is the way we will be referring to ourselves to inside audiences,” said Keith Marnoch, Western’s director of media relations.
“So for those who are familiar with us it will be Western, and for those who are unfamiliar with us, on a national or international, scale we added ‘university’ into it so people would have a context of what we’re talking about.”
Ninety per cent of people who answered a survey by the university instinctively referred to the school as “Western.”
“The new brand sees transition from the tower logo (adopted in 2000) in favour of an updated version of the shield that appears on Western’s coat of arms,” according to the university’s media release.
The school released a short video which explains the need for the school to be more easily recognized.
“Unifying who we are is what we’re doing in a lot of this, speaking in a more unified verse,” Marnoch said. “[It’s] important for people who know about us and even more importantly for people we’re trying to reach out to to be researchers, potential students, and other people who can help us with this university, either on a national or international level.”
While university officials seem to think the change is necessary, not all students agree.
“I think the changes are stupid because they spent $200,000 on the logo change when that money could be going somewhere more important like scholarships,” said Stephanie Egelton, a second-year world religions and political science student at Western, adding that she disapproves of the removal of the “historic” college tower from the logo.
Like many universities such as McGill and Stanford, Western University will not be the school’s legal name, according to Marnoch, and students will still see the “University of Western Ontario” written on their diplomas and other legal documents.
“I think that we’d like to simplify things,” Marnoch said. “I think that the people who now have an investment in this place are fully valid in their connection. We as a university aspire people to get connected here. We want people to get connected here and have an emotional connection to this place.”
Marnoch said the school should be well along the road of making the full transition to being completely rebranded as Western University by September 2012.
