From Chapman University's Publications Page:
3. I'm really tired of the logo. Can I use something else? OR: I really love the Chapman logo. Can I just tweak it a little bit for my brochure?
The window logo is a quick identifying symbol for Chapman University. We see it every day, so once in a while (the publications staff included) we're bound to get tired of it. Just as designers for IBM or Nike or CBS or NBC probably get tired of their logos. But it helps our audiences identify us. In the same vein, we don't like to tweak the logo. In other words, don’t try this at home. You shouldn’t try to squeeze images into the panels, turn it into a rectangle or generally abuse it. We are nice guys most of the time, but on this one, there’s no compromise.
A New York Times article from 2005 contains great insight on "branding" schools and brings up several different issues on how schools do end up distinguishing themselves. Do retention rates say more about a school than acceptance rates? Do the incoming test scores and High School GPAs matter more than the employment options? Perhaps what matters the most is how these numbers are eventually used in the publication materials. This piece also supports the idea that there isn't much admonishment in taking the educational process and transforming it into a clear commodity:
"There has been a sea change over the last 10 years. Marketing used to be almost a dirty word in higher education."
It's been time to do an analysis for some time and I've been putting it off because it's seemed like such a gargantuan task. Either way, I think I might just narrow it down and concentrate on websites and the available resources within the site, navigation, how things are labeled, etc. In addition, I will also cover some of the publicity material from each university given to US News & World Report, Newsweek, and the like.
For the next week:
(Private) Boston College (http://www.bc.edu/), Colorado College (http://www.coloradocollege.edu/index.asp), Brigham Young University (http://www.byu.edu/webapp/home/index.jsp), Chapman (http://www.chapman.edu/). Just for fun, I've included Boston University because of their unique website (http://www.bu.edu/)
(Public) San Diego State (http://www.sdsu.edu/), Evergreen State (http://www.evergreen.edu/), University of Arizona (http://www.arizona.edu/), Clemson (http://www.clemson.edu/), University of Vermont (http://www.uvm.edu/)
