The new USM logo is causing a stir around campus, centering on the displaying of the new logo and who is paying for the changes. The Student Senate is currently looking into whether or not the Office of Marketing and Brand Management (MBM) is being excessively aggressive in their enforcement of the logo guidelines. MBM contends that, while they are being strict in the regulation of logo use it is for the benefit of the entire University.
The new USM logo was unveiled on August 29, 2003, at the opening breakfast of the academic year. It was the culmination of three years of work, involving MBM, alumni, volunteers, students and the community. The new logo is part of a program meant to unify the school once represented by as many as 150 different images.
MBM feels continuity within the University is extremely important. They feel USM must make itself known to be able compete in the modern educational marketplace and consistency in the logo is central to the school’s image.
In an effort to create continuity, MBM has developed the “USM Identity Guide and Style Manual.” This thirty-five-page manual details the accepted usage of the new USM logo. According to Leigh Raposo, assistant director of design for the Office of Marketing and Brand Management, compliance is expected.
Raposo does not see the strict enforcement of the rules as a waste of student tuition. Even minor variations from the accepted form of the logo look sloppy, she said. The University cannot afford to project such an image, she said, because it does not look professional. The logo was developed to clearly identify the University of Southern Maine and MBM feels that any deviation from the defined images is detrimental to the projected image.
The Student Senate has received reports that the regulation of the use of the logo has bordered on absurd. They are concerned students’ tuition money may be being spent to change minor variations in the logo. Some people complain that such expenditures are squandering limited assets.
Andrew Bossie, vice-chair of the Student Senate, said that while he understands the reasons for the rules, he wonders if MBM is being “too precise.” He worries that in the enforcement of compliance, money may be wasted. He is concerned projects are being redone because of minor variations in the presentation of the logo. The money spent on redoing projects might better be spent elsewhere, he said.
“There is concern from the students, that basically, this logo thing is getting a little out of hand,” he said. “Stuff like not using the logo properly and then paying for it to be changed, is basically the concern.” Bossie has taken on the responsibility of investigating such situations, as he said, to ensure efficient use of students’ tuitions.
Bossie cited several examples where he worries that funds could have been better used elsewhere. He talked about a reproduction of the logo on tiles used in the reconstruction of the restroom in the Brooks Student Center. Allegedly, the logo was not to the standards of MBM and workers had to rip up the floor and lay the tile again. Bossie said volunteers did the work so it had not cost the school anything. This raises the concern of similar events occurring, where the school has to pay for the work twice, he said.
Raposo said that there is indeed great concern regarding any permanent sign or structure containing the new logo that goes up on campus.
“What we’re doing now is that we’re cleaning up our act,” she said. “We don’t want the logo to be used in a haphazard manner.” Permanent fixtures will be required to abide by strict guidelines, she said.
Another of Bossie’s concerns is about departments that are required to reprint their letterhead to meet MBM standards. These departments are already strapped financially, he said and this is an additional expense, as well as being wasteful.
“When the USM logo is being used, we want the entire logo to be exactly as the logo is,” Raposo said. “If someone substitutes a font, it’s not the logo anymore.” Letterhead in particular, Raposo said, needs to be correct. This is the main avenue of off-campus communication and therefore it is critical that it is representative of the new USM image.
“In the very beginning, the first few years, it’s going to be very important to say the message of USM; to present USM in terms of the logo and the identity in a consistent way,” said Raposo. “If it’s not shown consistently, we’re going to lose the strength of what we’re trying to build.”
According to Raposo, while there is additional expense, MBM has done what it can to ease the transition and to minimize this expense. In the six months prior to the unveiling of the new logo, MBM informed the University that there would be a change. The hope was, according to Raposo, that departments would be able to use their current supplies of brochures, letterhead and other such items, before the transition came. There is a clause in the “USM Identity Guide and Style Manual” allowing for the gradual phasing out of the older stationary. It states that within 10 months, all of the departments will have completed their changeover. This 10-month period ended on July 1 of this year. All departments are now expected to use the new logo exclusively.
“We’re not into wasting things,” Raposo said. “You can just walk around campus; you can see there’s a big change. There is building. There are new programs. This image building is just another part of USM growing, growing up and becoming what it’s going to be.” She pointed out that even athletic uniforms are being slowly updated, as to spread expenses out over time.
The logo was developed as just one aspect of the complete new image the University unveiled at the commencement of the 2003-2004 school year.
In his speech at the opening breakfast President Richard Pattenaude said, “I think the new logo symbolizes our core values beautifully. A pillar of the community. The torch of learning. Three flames, three promises, three campuses, our threefold mission: service, teaching, scholarship.”
According to Raposo, the logo is by no means the most important aspect of the new image; it is simply the most visible one.
“More important than the logo are the statements that we came up with about USM,” she said. In his speech Pattenaude referred to the three promises the University developed: A university where change happens, which is rich in possibilities and is deeply involved in its region. “The logo development came out of those statements,” Raposo said. “Those statements are really brilliant, in terms of really just condensing [USM] down to something manageable.”
According to Raposo, the previous logo, instituted when the University of Maine System decided their symbol would no longer represent the individual campuses, but would just represent the UMaine System. The logo was not developed as part of a brand. It did not have the research behind it; it did not have the unified image, she said. “To me the logo is just how [the brand statements have] been dressed up to be visible. But the brand statements direct me in everything that I do here.”