Aberdeen commissioned IE to create a set of compelling visual assets and a new brand identity to:

• Compliment, honour and work within the university’s existing brand guidelines
• Improve the impact and effectiveness of the service
• Provide clarity, consistency and flexibility across a range of collateral.

Following a listening exercise, IE gauged key stakeholder values and provided a simple, succinct and concise report, from which Aberdeen could benchmark their performance and IE’s design team could develop the new visual identity.

The result?

In response to Aberdeen and IE’s research IE has introduced a striking new visual identity. The suite of visuals contain a range of colours, themes, language and fonts, all protected in a brand guidelines document.

The new identity features the prominent use of a chevron, lifted from the University of Aberdeen’s 519 year old crest. As a heraldic symbol the chevron is full of meaning:

1. A symbol of a family house, or place of residence
2. Denoting the establishment of a new branch of an extended family.

More generally the chevron represents guidance, a symbol of students moving upwards and a collaboration and partnership between student and service.

The brand will be protected and policed by a new brand guidelines document and will be launched in September.

IE’s Head of Design Amanda Haywood-Poole:

“The new brand has provided the careers service the opportunity to differentiate themselves, not just on a noisy campus, but also nationwide relative to other top universities. The new identity will provide the consistency and clarity along with the flexibility for Aberdeen to modify their identity across different campaigns.”

Interested in seeing more of the University of Aberdeen’s new brand identity? Contact hello@iebrand.co.uk for some sneak peaks.