VERSATILE LOGO FOR A DYNAMIC DESIGN SCHOOL

By Karen Birchard

Three variously sized squares with the ability to shift and slide, filled with words or art, are the central feature of OCAD U’s new brand identity that was unveiled last week.

It’s never easy to change a name and image, so when the 135-year old Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto became a university back in 2002, that fact barely registered with the public. Canada’s oldest, largest, and, arguably, its premier art school had long been known as a college. Last year the government finally passed the legislation that changed the school’s name to OCAD University. But as Toronto’s fourth university, it needed a new visual identity.

The university decided to work with the Bruce Mau Design company. The firm’s team worked closely with the university to come up with a brand that wasn’t a staid logo but a flexible visual identity system that can also be a mini-gallery for students’ work, since artwork can be inserted into one of the squares.

“Students play such a pivotal role in the university so it was important to incorporate them,” said Bruce Mau Design’s president and CEO, Hunter Tura. “The squares can be a frame or framework to showcase the work of medal winners every year.” That means the system also becomes a visual historical record. “After 20 years, it will be an index of thinking, of what was coming out of the school.”

Full Article on The Chronicle Review