Change can often be unsettling.  People are creatures of habit, and when we get used to the way something is, it can be difficult to accept it change when it happens.  Over the last 10 months, Buena Vista University has been working on making some changes to its brand, in an attempt to refresh the appearance of the university’s image.

According to a passage posted to bvu.edu on September 17, 2019, the university states, “Goals for the new brand narrative were to stand out as being unique, authentic, relevant, motivational, and sustainable“.  As of today, this article’s day of writing, the new brand has been active for five days and has received massive amounts of attention.  Unfortunately, a large amount of this attention has been negative attention.  

Since the new brand’s launch, students have been discussing one obvious part of the new branding the most: the new logo.  The new logo graphic is a straight-on view of the BVU arch, with gold filling the archway space.  The graphic lacks depth and dimension in comparison to the old logo and is constructed of thick lines.  Many BVU community members believe that we are not yet at a time where we feel as though we need new branding.  The two most memorable statements that I’ve heard from students regarding the new logo have been, “That’s the new logo?” and “It looks like clip art”. 

Another complaint about the newly rebranded logo includes color changes.  Obviously, we know that BVU’s colors are blue and gold, but anything being officially marketed for BVU must follow a strict set of color codes.  These color codes have been changed since the rebranding, which may lead to challenges with promotions in the future. 

New policies have also been set in place as far as which beaver logos we can now use.  BVU’s University and Marketing Communications team insists that original beavers and past variations of BVU beavers not be used on future posters and T-shirt designs because they want the new official BVU beaver logo to be presented as a cohesive design within the BVU community.  On a higher note, BVU students, faculty, and staff are however still allowed to wear “old” BVU apparel. 

BVU officials appear excited to roll out the new brand.  Throughout this fall, the university will be working on implementing the new brand across all platforms.  I know that I’ll be listening to see how the new brand is received over the next few months.