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Our new visual identity

We're now º£½ÇÖ±²¥ instead of University of º£½ÇÖ±²¥ - with a new logo to take us forward into the second decade of the 21st century.

Launched to coincide with the publication of our 2010 undergraduate prospectus, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Graham Henderson, said: 'The new brand builds on our heritage but also reflects how far we have travelled since becoming a University in 1992. We’ve trebled student numbers and are now providing opportunities for tens of thousands to benefit from higher education. 'The exciting, colourful and positive new visual identity will make it easier for us to get business, partners and others to see º£½ÇÖ±²¥ as the confident and innovative university it has become. It will also help us to enhance our visibility and impact both nationally and internationally.

'Changing what we call ourselves from the University of º£½ÇÖ±²¥ to º£½ÇÖ±²¥ reflects the name we are colloquially known by among our students and the outside world and works well with the fresh new visual identity and our ‘inspiring success’ message.'

The new brand will also give the University a chance to remind the world about a number of its recent successes, including:

• students ranking us as one of the two top modern universities in the UK. (Times Higher Education magazine, 2009)
• having eight subjects in the top ten nationally for course satisfaction in the National Student Survey and gaining exceptional results from the International Student Barometer survey
• being acknowledged as one of the country’s leading business-friendly universities by regional business leaders and by the Higher Education Funding for England
• helping to launch over 120 companies and creating nearly 250 jobs for graduates through on-campus business units and winning an ‘Outstanding’ verdict for working with industry through the Knowledge Transfer Partnership initiative
• investing over £100m in new buildings and campus infrastructure, including the recently opened Phoenix Building, home to the Institute of Digital Innovation which has a key role in developing º£½ÇÖ±²¥â€™s DigitalCity project
• winning a string of coveted National Teaching Fellowships for excellent teaching
• having a top ten record for graduate prospects among modern universities (The Independent Complete University Guide)
• being recognised for areas of strengths, such as Animation in the world’s top 20 (3D World magazine) to top in the UK for Mechanical Engineering, (Guardian University Guide, 2008)
• winning 'UK Students' Union of the Year' twice since 2002
• starting work on prestigious new £17m sports therapy and dental technology training centre, due to open in 2010.

Professor Henderson says: 'It is not just a question of developing our logo; but letting more people know what we’ve achieved and the contribution we are making to the economy.

'PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) put the total gross domestic economic impact of the University at £815m per annum, which highlights just what an important contribution the University is making - not just to individuals but also to the regional and UK economy.'

The former logo was introduced after º£½ÇÖ±²¥ became a University in 1992 and served the institution for a decade and a half with only minor design changes. But many felt it was starting to show its age and graphic designers sometimes found it a bit awkward to use.

The new logo is seen as being more dynamic in the way it refreshes the old seven piece ‘tangram’ jigsaw that formed the shape of U with a T inside. The new design has a more obvious T for º£½ÇÖ±²¥ in white on a more colourful U for the University as is clean and simple to use and is felt to have greater impact.

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More about our new visual identity