Just How Important Is Your Logo?

Just how important is that graphic identity of your college, university, or school?  We are asked this question often by clients.  It turns out that it is very important, but for reasons you might not really consider.  Here are four reasons why we think a strong graphic identity is critical to favorably positioning your institution in the minds of constituencies, and some of the pitfalls that schools and colleges fall into along the way.

Consistency - Visit 150 campuses and you will find 1500 logos.  It it hard to gain traction around any common market position if your own school or college confuses the brand by having different graphic identities.  This is perhaps the most common pitfall we see in the industry. Walk into any school bookstore and you might find five different versions of the school logo, seal, or athletic mark.  Think about the Nike "swoosh" or the McDonald's "M":  they never deviate from their look.  Consistency is critical.  

Purpose - It is similarly important to use the right mark for the right purpose.  At most, schools and colleges should have three marks:  (1) a main promotional logo to be used informally on 90% of print and electronic media, (2) a seal, which is the mark of authenticity of an institution, to be used on transcripts and formal documents (not on the side of a physical plant van), and (3) an athletic mark, which is used only for athletics and does not need to have ten different variations for each sport.  A common pitfall we see is that schools and colleges will use their seal for promotional purposes.  Bad idea.

Persona -  A great icon needs to communicate something endearing, purposeful about your organization.  It needs to tell a story, rather than just be a clever mark.  Our "lighthouse" logo is important for ISA in two ways for storytelling:  (1) it places us on the west coast where there are lots of lighthouses, and (2) lighthouses help steer in the proper direction and away from missteps in turbulent times.  That's what ISA does with strategy.

The 70 Mile an Hour Test - A great icon needs to be discernible, even when driving past a billboard at 70 miles an hour.  I once heard a researcher say that the three most recognizable icons in the world were the McDonald's "M", the Nike "swoosh", and the cross of the crucifix.  What do they all have in common?  They are absolutely simple.

I think graphic identities are the foundation of a strong promotional agenda.  Not because they are cool, clever, or faddish.  No, because they actually communicate something really important.  They tell a story.  And, we all know people love a story.

A picture says more than a thousand words.

Terminology Matters > Divisions and Retreats

I think that terminology matters. The words we use to describe something play an important role in creating meaning and assigning context. And, sometimes, we use terms that we think may mean one thing but actually assign context in unintended ways.

Why do we use the word “divisions” to describe units or departments in education? Is it any wonder why consumers find educational institutions operating in silos with limited integration? I am pretty certain that the use of this word does not help our cause.

And, why do we call our off-site planning events “retreats”, as if we are moving away from our mission? Perhaps we would be better served to call these events staff or annual “advances”, adding some forward motion to our work.

We use strange language in education that does not shape positive perception. Let’s find a way to use stronger, more effective terminology in the future. We might find it assigns a different context to our work, too.

Say What You Mean

—By Gary Daynes, Senior Consulting Associate

The education sector is home to certain words that are universally used and universally loved. We all favor “relationships,” and “engagement,” and “leadership.” You can find almost no school opposed to them.

That these terms are so common and so admired should give you pause if you rely on them (or many others--I’ve chosen these simply as examples) at your school. Unless that is, when you use them, you say what you mean. If you define them and use the definitions consistently, you will be able to build a common culture within your school and differentiate your school in the market. If you don’t, though, you will miss both those opportunities.

Here is what I mean. The terms relationship, engagement, and leadership hide within them contradictory meanings. “Relationship” can refer both to a transaction (students have a good relationship with the registrar’s office when they pick up their graduation cap and gown) and to a life-changing interaction (my relationship with my teacher helped me discover my vocation in life). Similarly,” engagement” can refer to activity (student engagement is up because more students are going to sporting events than last year) or to connection with a topic (the stories of Flannery O’Connor engaged our students in understanding the complexity of faith in the south). And “ leadership” can refer to being in charge of an organization or the character traits that allow people to stand up in difficult times.

My point is not that one of these definitions is better than the other one. Instead it is that at most schools, contradictory definitions exist, unaddressed, at the same time. As a result, students get wildly differing experiences, faculty and staff inadvertently pull in different directions, and already tight resources are diffused rather than concentrated.

This matters because students and parents choose independent schools for the coherent, powerful learning experiences that they promise. And it matters because in a crowded marketplace where most schools, public and private, large and small, use the same terms, your school will struggle to stand out unless you are clear about what your school means and what it does to live out that meaning.

It is of course easier to say that a school should have common definitions of key words than it is to actually have them. Getting to a common understanding takes time. It means having hard conversations during strategic planning and training. And it means not doing things that other schools are doing, even when those schools are successful.

But the benefits of saying what you mean--the greater focus, clearer mission, deeper learning, and stronger position in the marketplace--surely outweigh the costs.