Home / Fall Table of Contents / Reebok head Bob Meers / SLOGOS!
HE NEW UMASS logotype introduced in August a stalwart "UMASS"
shouldering a stout Frutiger "M" fronted by a modified Callifonts
script "U" is on its roll toward becoming the distinctive emblem
of the university.
Within weeks after President William Bulger
announced that all five UMass campuses will use a version of
the design, the publications office on our own campus, where
the logo was created, had received hundreds of phone calls from
people wanting to use it.
Soon the new logo will be within eyeshot of people all over the
world, from the radio-telescope manufacturer in Germany receiving
a fax from a UMass department, to the sixteen-year-old searching
for college admission information on the Internet, to the Amherst
resident waiting at a stoplight and watching a UMass van pass
by.
In a blip, the artful design will conjure up hoops/Bulger/Honors
College/Scott/polymers/Marching Band (best in the land)/economics/Wideman/world's
largest telescope/Women's World Cup/satellite dishes/New World
Theater/neuroscience/
excellence/internationality/state university/green and pretty
Amherst and if not one or more of these images, then just as
many others, depending on whose eye beholds it.
It will seem as though the logo has always
been in orbit with other collegiate emblems, and few people will
remember who created it and when, or even that it was created
by someone. When the logo has attained this status, it will be
doing its job well, furthering the university's mission by telegraphing
its unique blend of excellence and affordability.
Now seems a good time, therefore, to usher
out from behind the new symbolic face of UMass some of the people
whose expertise, imaginations, judgments, and work produced it.
"Literally hundreds of people, on campus and off, were involved
in the making of this logo," emphasizes Patricia VandenBerg,
assistant vice chancellor for communications and marketing on
campus and an especially key one of the hundreds.
The first bow belongs to David Scott, chancellor
of the Amherst campus, who decided several years ago that it
was time to take stock of the campus's image, in the public's
eye as well as its own. A task force appointed in the fall of
1995 found that (1) no single image represented the campus; (2)
no adequate research was available on the campus's target audiences
and its efforts to reach them; and (3) the campus had no strategic
communications plan. By May of 1996, in consequence, the administration
had its first marketing professional in the form of the elegant
powerhouse VandenBerg, whose career background is uncommon in
combining business and academic acumen. Formerly a tenured professor
of theater, as well as a consultant whose clients included both
Fortune 500 companies and educational institutions, VandenBerg
now serves as an adjunct professor in the school of management
as well as the campus's marketing chief.
"I'm an academic, but I've always had
close personal connections to the business community and watched
how its members communicate," explains VandenBerg, sitting
on the small couch in her airy but surprisingly bare office in
Munson Hall (A Matisse print leaning against a blackboard is
about it for decor). "Since competition for students, good
faculty, and funding is intense and getting more intense all
the time, institutions of higher education have had to use the
methods traditionally used by business," she says. Other
universities have led the way in recognizing this, "but
UMass is in the race. We're in the forefront of a trend."
When she took this job, VandenBerg says, "I
knew that if we were to communicate with our community coherently,
we had to establish two things: a visual identity and a message
system. We have nine schools and colleges and hundreds of programs,
and everybody's saying stuff, sending out materials." She
needed to convince the campus of the value of a coordinated approach;
to do that, she created a presentation juxtaposing the graphic
treatments the task force had found in use all over campus. There
were 137.
"If you spread all the different pieces out on a table,
you'd never know they were all from UMass," says VandenBerg.
"Many were handsome and well done, but collectively they
didn't project a coherent identity."
Toting around her presentation and citing
research showing that cohesive communications make businesses
more profitable and institutions better able to attract resources,
VandenBerg argued her case "to anyone who would listen."
Academics have "traditionally viewed marketing as crass,"
she says, "but in the end, I was able to persuade enough
people that to realize our potential, we have to spend some of
our precious resources and use these business tools."
In response, Chancellor Scott launched a communications and marketing
planning initiative as part of the campus-wide administrative
redesign he calls "Striving for Excellence." A project
team of faculty and administrators was formed to oversee the
effort, and late in 1997, subcommittees of professional staff
from across the campus set to work on the development of editorial
and visual style guidelines. Concurrently, Vandenberg and her
staff were developing and testing the "key themes and messages"
included in this fall's "identity rollout." Only one
off-campus expert was involved: Mary Ann Rood, a Boston marketing
consultant, hired to help with strategy and testing.
On the strength of its preliminary suggestions,
in January of this year VandenBerg asked the visual identity
group to develop a logo that would (1) represent UMass to all
of its constituencies; (2) convey both a modern look and a sense
of tradition; (3) project the aggregate strength and excellence
of the campus, and (4) be "distinctively UMass."
She gave them until March to produce a range
of logos to test on various audiences. Meeting once a week throughout
January and February, team members created, shared, and discussed
designs; by mid-March, they'd considered several dozen and arrived
at five to submit for market testing.
Advised by Rood on testing methods, and carrying
display boards on which the logos were mounted, VandenBerg and
staffers Laura Boudreau and Ralph Loos fanned out to groups across
campus and the state to see how the designs would go over. Rood
also tested some groups. "Name a constituency we have, and
they saw it," says Loos of the sampling. Apple growers in
Colrain were on his route, as were high school students in Longmeadow
and Eastern Massachusetts, and a campus auditorium full of UMass
undergraduates. Alumni on campus for Reunion Weekend; parents
of prospective students on campus for tours; business people
in Amherst and elsewhere; design and communications professionals
in Boston (Rood tested some in Chicago as well); and, of course,
faculty and staff: no avenue was omitted in the search for reactions.
Each group was shown each design separately for two minutes,
and asked to respond to the question "What does this logo
say to you about UMass?" They were then shown all five designs
at once, and asked to rank them in response to the question "Which
of these logos best represents UMass?"
In all, more than five hundred people were
polled, and two designs one of them the eventual choice, without,
as yet, the word UMASS attached; the other a more traditional,
boxed "UM" emerged as finalists. "In just about
every age group, those were the top two," notes Loos. Many
respondents noted with approval the echo, in the block-M/script-U
design, of the wildly popular UMass athletic logo, which was
created by John Calipari for the men's basketball team. "Especially
the high school students," adds Loos. "They were comfortable
seeing the script U."
"The tie-in to the athletic logo is a
definite strength of this new logo," agrees Boudreau, who
says communications professionals also liked that aspect. The
logo was also seen as modern, yet traditional; bold; and suggestive
of the commonwealth's standing behind the university. For some,
it even evoked the campus swan.
Says Loos, "The logo let people who want to view the university
as modern view it as modern. It let people who want to view the
university as traditional view it as traditional. And for many
people, the tie-in to the athletic logo was seen as a bridge
between athletics and academics. Like any good piece of art,
it allowed people to bring their own perspectives."
The perspective of Robert Meers '69, president
and CEO of the Reebok corporation, was especially useful. Meers
was on campus as a Bateman Alumni Scholar in April, and VandenBerg
asked him to have a look at the five logos. He immediately zeroed
in on the block-M/script U design. "He basically affirmed
our research," says VandenBerg, "stressing the world-wide
`brand-recognition' of the script-U. But he added that there
are a lot of `UM' logos out there, and advised the addition of
`UMASS.'" A second round of testing, with fifty people considered
representative of their constituencies, clinched the choice.
"Striking," "distinctive," "sophisticated,"
and "proudly UMass" these words, according to Boudreau,
appeared again and again in the comments. "One of my favorite
responses," she notes, "is from an alum who said the
logo is `striking, classic, warm, and sophisticated but not pretentious.'
I think this is true of the university."
Convinced by these results, Chancellor Scott,
President Bulger, the trustees, and the chancellors of the four
other campuses discussed at length the possibility of implementing
new logo systemwide. By August the decision was final. As soon
as the president's announcement was made, the publications office
in Amherst produced a draft of flexible guidelines for the logo's
use. After gathering reactions to the guidelines and other materials
produced in this year-long initiative, VandenBerg's staff expects
to issue a comprehensive visual and editorial style guide next
spring.
Considering the sophistication of the new
logo, it's kind of nice that its creator, Steven Robbins '91,
looks like a guy you'd like to take over to granny's house. His
short brown hair makes no statement; his fair round face and
brown eyes look well-rested; his button-down shirt, as he sits
at his worktable in the publications office in Munson Hall, is
a faded apple-red plaid. You'll get more of the ironic, hip designer
look from some waiters, who'll also likely offer more details
about themselves while taking your drink order than will Robbins
in an hour of discussing his creative process. Asked how he came
up with the logo, he responds by describing the interactions
of the visual identity team.
"Everyone was working with type treatments
of the word UMass, or the entire name of the university, or a
U and M," he says. "Everyone on the team worked autonomously;
we all brought in what we were working with that week. So I was
refining my work week to week, based on the responses of my peers.
But I kept bringing back my M." It was the Frutiger ultrablack
M that came to mind first, says Robbins. The idea of overlaying
it with the script U occurred to him because of the ubiquity
of the athletic logo.
Asked why this logo works so well, he begins
hesitantly: "From a design perspective, the contrast is
good. The university has a big, nebulous product research, education,
and service. The contrast suits that. There's a lot of flow-through,
because of the way the U sits. There's easy entry. Visually,
it's a stimulating play between positive and negative spaces
it attracts your eye. First the M may come forward, then the
U.
"It's not as easy to get immediately
as some other designs," adds Robbins. "It's a fine
line: If a design is too challenging, too abstract, nobody'll
bother. But you want it to have just a little challenge, then
it becomes a reward to understand it."
In its future, reproduced hundreds of millions
of times on sweatshirts and stationery, coffee cups and umbrellas,
watches, clocks, caps, banners, bibs, pins, and other paraphernalia,
the UMass logo will offer extra-aesthetic rewards, as well. It
will make money. Thus, it was immediately registered as a trademark.
Though some older emblems will continue to be used among them
the university seal for stately occasions, the Fine Art Center's
distinctive silhouette, and the internationally recognized "script-UMass"
of the athletic teams the new logotype "will become a brand
identity for a good portion of the university," predicts
UMass director of licensing and trademarks David Curley.
"The university's perceived value with consumers has skyrocketed in the last four years," says Curley, whose job is to ensure that UMass protects, promotes, and profits from use of its trademarks. "This is no longer a school to go to; it's a school to get into. This new logo ties it all together, and it comes at a dramatic time."
WHEN ROBERT MEERS '69
stopped by the office of assistant vice chancellor of communication
and marketing Patricia VandenBerg on campus one day last spring,
he took one look at the placards showing the five contenders
for the new UMass logo and immediately chose the bold block M
fronted by the script U as best. He recognized the UMass athletic
logo in the U, and thought that with the simple addition of a
word-mark it would be both aesthetically bold and distinctively
UMass.
This man knows logos. As president and CEO
of Reebok International, Meers presides over a company that's
vaulted from $13 million to $3.5 billion in value in the fifteen
years he's been on board. And knowing the immense value of one
small marketing tool is part of his job: Meers has the final
say on where and how the public sees not only the vector symbol
that represents Reebok athletic gear (a mark abstracted from
the side panel of their running shoe), but also the Rockport
lighthouse, the Polo/Ralph Lauren horseman, and the rainbow-colored
shark of Greg Norman Sportswear: all carefully guarded logotypes
of companies that Reebok owns.
"UMass is using the logo that is the
most aesthetically pleasing and bold and that best captures `This
is the University of Massachusetts,'" said Meers one day
last fall, sitting in one of a row of small black vinyl swivel
chairs in a presentation room in Reebok's Stoughton headquarters.
A consummate sports-products executive, the tall, athletic Meers
was elegantly clothed, from the vector-embroidered collar of
his ecru- and black-striped polo to the tips of his dark, supple
shoes. All around him, the colors and shapes of shoes, shorts,
shirts, and bags, displayed on chrome racks and in opaque plastic
boxes affixed to white walls, gleamed under track lighting, the
combinations of lime green and marine blue, grey and yellow,
red and black, navy blue and white or orange playing off of each
other arrestingly.
The man knows images. At the same time that
UMass's new mark boldly expresses his alma mater, Meers said,
it also "allows a lot of legs," as he puts it. "You
can expand it in conjunction with different programs, schools,
sports, without prostituting the logo equity," he explained.
By "logo equity" a term he uses
to the near-exclusion of "logo" Meers said he means
the "recall value" of a logo, which is what an institution
is really out to develop. "Because you drive it home, you
build up equity, and it seems like you've owned it forever,"
he said. He cites Coca-Cola's red disc, which remains iconic
even if the script in which the name is printed changes. "What
I saw in the block-M/script-U was the ability to establish that
equity and expand on it."
Despite his own swift assessment of the new
UMass logo, Meers was pleased by the research that preceded its
final choice by the university. "They did what I consider
a pretty good job of research," he said. "Anytime you
choose a graphic, you can't leave it up to only the designers;
it becomes too subjective. You really need to do testing and
research. After that, you use a little aesthetic intuition.
"I've learned that the cook should not cook to please himself,"
said this savvy HRTA grad. "Logos you take very, very seriously,
because through them you're saying, `This is what we're about.'"
