Mount Royal College University unveiled their new university branding this morning, and although overall it’s a strong mark I’ve gotta wonder, why spend the money with a Toronto firm instead of locally in Calgary?
Overall I think the mark is good, I think it does a decent job of mixing the fresh with the old and refined. The hidden “M” in the negative space of the open books looks fantastic and fresh, but the typeface is a safe serif that you would expect from any institute with university in the name.
But as I said, I don’t understand why they wouldn’t go with a local firm for such an important and public project, SAIT seems to have no problem spending money locally, and they’ve gotten some great results. The current “Get a career you’ll never want to leave” is spot on, and was developed right here in Calgary.
Heck, even Alberta kept their branding/advertising dollars in province when it was time for a rebrand. But then again, maybe Mount Royal felt that part of living up to the new University name meant going bigger then the local talent pool.
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:39 am
Those are books? Ahh, now I get it.
Nice post Jason.
Typically, I’m not on the side of the ‘we need to keep the design local’ contingent. When it comes to projects such as bridges, architectural buildings and civic engineering projects, I think a big city needs to attract international competition to push our own industries and produce highly regarded structures.
But I have to agree with you on this one. MRU really should have looked inside the 403 area code for a branding concept. Especially with a school that offers a Bachelors of Communication in Information Design. They could of at least leveraged the skills of their alumni and the local outfits that they are working for.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:20 pm
The fact of the matter is that the Toronto-based firm that “won” the contract, was selected through a competitive RFP process during which there were local firms who submitted proposals. Unfortunately, their efforts were not as good as that of the designer that was ultimately chosen.
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:13 pm
For the record I hate that SAIT campaign…get a job you’ll be stuck in until you die.
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Not to mention the old dudes look fake….put on an old suit. Are they ALL played by Eddie Murphy?
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:01 pm
I think part of it is the fact that educational institutes are a very large part of the communities they are in. Beyond the number of students taking up local residencies, schools also act as community hubs for night classes and fitness programs. Not to mention kids programs and public facilities such as McMahon Stadium.
It just seems when your that engrained in the community you should be looking locally first and foremost.
That being said, the Toronto firm by no means did a bad job, and I’d rather see a good job in another area code, then a bad job locally just to save face.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:27 am
I don’t love it. I don’t hate it. But I like the version that the marketing director is holding in this article better –
http://www.mtroyal.ca/AboutMountRoyal/MediaRoom/NewLogo.htm
The strong cyan makes it a little more fun with such a classic (aka boring) typesetting. Plus, I heart cyan.
February 26th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Just looking at the website posted above – it seems that there’s also a white-and-wedgewood blue version. Which seems a bit soft and fluffy for a university. Feh, can’t please everyone.