October 5, 2007
The Edwards School of Business (ESB) has unveiled its new logo, a design that not only addresses the competitive business school landscape in which the school operates but also creates strong ties to its home university.
Business schools across the country are marketed by establishing individual brands with different levels of connection to their universities, said ESB Dean Grant Isaac. The renaming of the College of Commerce “presented us with a good opportunity to examine our visual identity.”
Working with an outside creative firm, Isaac said the ESB searched for a logo that met a number of criteria. First, the design had to be “contemporary enough to resonate with all our ‘potentials’” – faculty, students and stakeholders – “but it couldn’t be a lo go that only looked forward. It also had to be placed within an institutional context, and it had to be placed in the context of other business schools.”
The result satisfies all of the requirements. Links to the U of S include the use of a shield which is part of the University’s own logo, the green colour and incorporation of the University’s name as part of the design. The typeface – Georgia – also matches that of the University’s logo.
Ghislaine McLeod, director of University Communications, agreed the new logo sets the right tone for the institution’s new school.
“Within our brand portfolio, there are some groups that need, for business purposes, to be marketed as secondary brands, and the Edwards School of Business is one,” said McLeod. “Other examples of existing secondary brands are VIDO, Huskie Athletics and the Canadian Light Source.”
The logo development process was long and consultative, she said, and the result fits with the University’s current visual identity standards.
Isaac said the ESB will now “put the finishing touches on our visual identity system” by incorporating the new logo into stationary, business cards, its website and other materials. He added that “the clothing orders have already started to come in.”
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