CMC Plans Logo Change

Associate Vice President for Public Affairs Richard Rodner has led a project this year to “update CMC’s graphic identity.” The update would be the first for the College since the 1970s.

The process has been long. Rodner’s office began by conducting a survey of alumni and students to evaluate opinions on the College’s logo and broader graphic identity. After receiving feedback that was “good, but not great,” the administration felt justified proceeding with a formal project to change the logo.

Since then, administrators have worked with a graphic designer specializing in university branding – who has created logos for a number of other schools, including several UCs and liberal arts colleges – to create some 25 sample designs, which were recently shared with students in a series of focus groups.

On the current status of the project, President Gann explained that “senior staff, the alumni board, students, the Board of Trustees and administrative staff have all reviewed dozens of concepts. Nothing has been decided, but a lot of options have been eliminated. The field is greatly narrowing down. People seem to be gathering around a more modern iteration of the globe, the book and the scepter.”

Gann also described student reactions as “really positive” and, although she declined to set a deadline, hoped to “conclude the process early summer, or next fall.”

A recent student focus group explored several categories of new designs, emphasizing enhancing the current logo, adapting other logos, revising the typography, and creating new ideas. The results range from the conservative to the comic. The most popular were those which hewed closest to the current design, either streamlining the globe/book/scepter design or even leaving it unchanged and only updating the font. At the opposite end of the spectrum was an adaptation of the “Campaign for Claremont McKenna” logo, one in which the CMC acronym was used to form a sun rising over mountains, and one rather clearly inspired by the signature logo of the Obama Campaign.

The administration plans to select a few finalists from the current designs and move on to a final decision soon.

Wyatt MacKenzie

Wyatt MacKenzie, like Venus, was formed spontaneously from sea foam and emerged carrying an IBM Selectric. He is physically incapable of producing anything but the most perfect reporting imaginable and has won seven Pulitzers for his work investigating CMC cafeterias. He hopes one day to report a story so hard that it stops ethnic conflict in the third world.

Why does CMC Public Affairs su

What about the many thousands CMC spent on “image consultants” over the past few years that accomplished nothing?

Kelsey Brown

To be fair, most of the current people working in Public Affairs have not been here very long, including our Vice President, Richard Rodner, therefore cannot be blamed for the inactivity over the “past few years.” But the fact that the new people have been hired says something about the steps the school is trying to make to improve our image, but as it’s said, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

Also, wouldn’t you consider our webpage’s “facelift” an advancement? Of course, it is not the final product by any means, but it speaks to the fact that things are being accomplished. Anything worth doing takes time, and I would much rather have our Public Affairs office putting careful thought into the changes made rather than rapidly making changes that may not be as beneficial for the school in the long run.

Why does CMC Public Affairs suck so much?

What about the many thousands CMC spent on “image consultants” over the past few years that accomplished nothing?

Kelsey Brown

To be fair, most of the current people working in Public Affairs have not been here very long, including our Vice President, Richard Rodner, therefore cannot be blamed for the inactivity over the “past few years.” But the fact that the new people have been hired says something about the steps the school is trying to make to improve our image, but as it’s said, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

Also, wouldn’t you consider our webpage’s “facelift” an advancement? Of course, it is not the final product by any means, but it speaks to the fact that things are being accomplished. Anything worth doing takes time, and I would much rather have our Public Affairs office putting careful thought into the changes made rather than rapidly making changes that may not be as beneficial for the school in the long run.

Madison

Maybe I’m conservative but I prefer the logo that looks more like our current one. The campaign one is okay but some of the newer iterations of the staff, book, and globe logos I saw at some meetings make us look either like a health food grocery story or a cross between Bridgewater Associates and Fortress Investment book– in other words, an asset management group.
Madison

Maybe I’m conservative but I prefer the logo that looks more like our current one. The campaign one is okay but some of the newer iterations of the staff, book, and globe logos I saw at some meetings make us look either like a health food grocery story or a cross between Bridgewater Associates and Fortress Investment book– in other words, an asset management group.
Christiana Dominguez (c/o 2001

Thanks, Forum, for the article on this. I received the survey and was perplexed both by its content, purpose, and, lately, by the lack of official comment from the school on the topic.

I’d prefer to see no change at all in the logo or the font (pick the lingo, whatever) but the option for “no change” didn’t appear on the survey, nor does it seem on Public Affair’s or the President’s radar.

Regardless of the outcome – kudos to current students who are participating in this process. Don’t forget – you have more power than you think.
Christiana Dominguez (c/o 2001)

Thanks, Forum, for the article on this. I received the survey and was perplexed both by its content, purpose, and, lately, by the lack of official comment from the school on the topic.

I’d prefer to see no change at all in the logo or the font (pick the lingo, whatever) but the option for “no change” didn’t appear on the survey, nor does it seem on Public Affair’s or the President’s radar.

Regardless of the outcome – kudos to current students who are participating in this process. Don’t forget – you have more power than you think.
jen

Why not put final options out in an easy and simple poll format for alumni to vote on? Then we get to feel like we get a voice in the process and that our opinion counts. (And if a poll site does exist, point me to it.)
jen

Why not put final options out in an easy and simple poll format for alumni to vote on? Then we get to feel like we get a voice in the process and that our opinion counts. (And if a poll site does exist, point me to it.)
http://bamber.blogspot.com Amber

A modified asterisk? Are you serious?

Banana Phone

Yeah really, wtf?

I’d like to be able to vote on the logo, and I’m sure alumni would, too.

Of the 4 shown here, I like the second from the top

Apple Beeper

What about auctioning off the right to select the logo?

Orange You Glad I Didn’t Say B

Good call! Robert A. Day might wanna buy that too.

http://www.tripepismith.com Ryder

Actually, none of the images in this article are the actual proposals. The asterisk was just a symbol of the consideration of a totally new direction versus the other three options, those being: stick near what we have, go in the direction of playing with the letters CMC similar to the Campaign logo or stylized text of Claremont McKenna College.

Christiana Dominguez (c/o 2001

We should have more than a font as a logo.

We should also stick with the book/globe because it’s already on basically every CMC thing I own.

Like my diploma.

http://bamber.blogspot.com Amber

A modified asterisk? Are you serious?

Banana Phone

Yeah really, wtf?

I’d like to be able to vote on the logo, and I’m sure alumni would, too.

Of the 4 shown here, I like the second from the top

Apple Beeper

What about auctioning off the right to select the logo?

Orange You Glad I Didn’t Say Banana

Good call! Robert A. Day might wanna buy that too.

http://www.tripepismith.com Ryder

Actually, none of the images in this article are the actual proposals. The asterisk was just a symbol of the consideration of a totally new direction versus the other three options, those being: stick near what we have, go in the direction of playing with the letters CMC similar to the Campaign logo or stylized text of Claremont McKenna College.

Christiana Dominguez (c/o 2001)

We should have more than a font as a logo.

We should also stick with the book/globe because it’s already on basically every CMC thing I own.

Like my diploma.

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CMC Plans Logo Change

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