Articol Cercetare3 Sofrone Radu [629021]

IAN 2018  VOLUME 11 ISSUE 1 JIDEG 41

Abstract: In this paper is presented a concept of redesign of the logo of Politehnica University of
Bucharest. The redesign process begins with the presentation of the current stage of visual identity, and
continues with the processes of resear ch, sketching and design. The logo can directly influence the attitude
of the viewers towards the brand, so it is an important way of communicating between the brand and the
public. The results obtained offer the public a new perspective on the technical u niversity.

Key words: rebranding, redesign process, visual identity, logo , golden ratio , colors

INTRODUCTION

A brand can be described as an organization, service
or product with a certain personality that takes shape
through the public's perc eption of it. The way brands are
imposed on the market influences the choice of
consumers. Branding represents all means of
communication, with a certain behavior, whereby a brand
is known and understood, in correlation with the product
or services it prom otes in a certain environment [1]. One
of the most important means of communication is
represented by visual communication. Today brands
become known primarily by their visual identity, whose
key element is the logo, so the logo can influence the
perceptio n of the public over the brand.
The rebranding represents the process of changing
and upgrading the means of communication of the brand,
adapted to new trends on the market. Rebranding comes
as an answer to a certain change. This change may come
from the p ublic, the competition or even the organization
that owns the brand. Change affects the visual identity
also leading to the redesign of the logo.
This document proposes a study of the visual identity
of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, as well as t he
creation of a new identity, adapted to today's design
trends. For a better understanding of the redesign concept
It was also performed an analysis of the rebranding
process of a foreign university. Next, there will be a
series of processes through which the logo moves from
the idea to the sketch and then to the final result. An
iconic stage for the logic behind a logo's construction is
the integration of proportions and symmetry, the
adaptation of graphics to the golden ratio. Each stage of
the creative process presents a number of issues that need
to be analyzed. Thus, the article can be a short
rebranding tutorial with basic concepts and working
examples.

2. SHORT ANALYSIS OF SAINT LOUIS
UNIVERSITY

The University of Saint Louis is an academic,
Catholi c-Jesuit instit ution that was founded in 1818 [2].
In 2015, this university decided that it is time to give up
the old visual identity and adopt a new one, adapted to
the contemporary design.

Fig. 1 Logo SLU before and after [2]

As can be seen in fig.1, the old logo of the university
has a medieval footprint that reminds of the King Louis
IX family's blazon, the lily flower, a crown and the
slogan "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam" which means "For
the greater glory of God." It is an interesting, very
crowded log o that includes various elements that are hard
to recognize.
Compared to the old logo, the new logo comes with a
design tailored to today's trends. It retains some of the
main elements of the old logo: The lily flower, the
crown, the shield representing th e king and the cross
representing Christianity. The new logo also comes with
a new meaning referring to the city landscape. Fine
springs in the lily flower knot symbolize the Archway
Gateway Monument [3]. Compared to the old logo, the
new one is scalable a nd easy to understand, the elements
complement each other forming a uniform whole. The
logo is a line type and has two colors, white and blue. It
is a complex logo because it contains symbol, logotype
and tagline.
We can conclude that the change that prompt ed the
evolution of the logo was the mismatch of the old design
with the current trends and the failure of the attributes of
a logo.

3. CURRENT LOGO OF U PB

Politehnica University of Bucharest is an academic
institute with technical profile whose traditio ns are
related to the foundation, in the year 1818, by Gheorghe
Lazar, of the first technical school with tea ching in
Romanian language [ 4]. The current name of the
university was chosen in 1992. With the example of
Saint Louis University, it will be analy zed whether or not
this institution needs rebranding. Radu Mihail SOFRONE
REBRANDING OF UNIVERSITY POLITEHNICA OF BUCHAREST

Brand ing of University Politehnica of Bucharest
IAN 2018  VOLUME 11 ISSUE 1 JIDEG 42

Fig. 2 Old UPB logo [5]

As the subject of the work refers to the graphical
communication mode, namely the visual identity of the
university, the current UPB logo will be analyzed. As can
be seen in fig.2, the UPB logo is an emblem type and
consists of three elements: the circular edge, the symbol
of the university rector's building, and under it the UPB
text. From the point of view of the attributes of a logo,
this is not an easy -to-recognize logo, t he multitude of
details in the building leading more to an illustration [6].
These details also make it a bad logo to remember and
very unadaptable. The chromaticity of the logo, although
it inspires the colors of the Romanian flag, as well as the
arrangem ent of the elements make it hard to reproduce
and not at all durable. The difference in size and detail
between the elements makes it more difficult to read. All
these identified problems lead to the need for a new
visual identity, with contemporary design that can
respect the attributes and create a positive impact through
this change.

4. NEW VISUAL IDENTITY

The first step in designing a logo is the creative brief.
It is necessary to know what is meant to be represented
graphically and what are the eleme nts that are kept from
the old logo. The references help the creative process
because it gives inspiration. A total redesign creates most
of the time confusion among the audience, which is not
able to associate the brand with the logo after the change.
In the current logo, the most important elements are the
rector's building, because the "UPB" and the circular
edge are highlighted by the circular shape roof. The year
1818 is not so relevant as the university has undergone
many changes over the course of 200 years. It is deduced
that the circular roof will be preserved because it is very
easy to recognize and today the public is familiar with it
and the circular edge, and the letters "UPB". It is very
important in the creative process to have an element of
connection, something to bind all elements and to be part
of the same whole. Af ter many sketches and tests the
new logo is a complex line logo that combines a symbol
element and a logotype.

Fig. 3 New UPB logo

Fig. 4 UPB logo explained

The symbol is represented by a stylized linear shape
of the rectorate building. It has as its central element the
form of the letter "B" that originates from the city of
Bucharest. The style in which the letter is constructed is
not a random one. That "B" form is the re sult of
overlapping UPB initials. Each letter is outlined line -art
type, and the letter "U" has added an extension to the left
to create together with the element above the continuity
of the building.

Fig. 5 UPB graphic element decomposed

Branding of University Politehnica of Bucharest
IAN 2018  VOLUME 11 ISSUE 1 JIDEG 43 The entire g raphic symbol breaks down into three
parts. The first element is the circular roof of the
Rectorate building. Although it does not have a great
historical relevance, the roof has become a symbol for
the university in the collective memory. The next
element consists of the building body in the form of the
letter "B" made up by overlapping the stylized initials of
the university name. The last element, although it seems
insignificant, is a circle arc that together with the
building body forms a step ladder. T his element
represents a step towards the future with the help of the
university. The style in which the logo symbol was built
is inspired by the technical drawing that underlies the
engineering development plans.

Fig. 6 Logo symbol decomposed

The log otype logo cons ists of the text
„UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA DIN
BUCURESTI” arranged on three rows. The font used for
logotype is Roboto Slab Regular and is a font that
combines with the symbol element because it is created
in line style. Between the two ele ments is a link element
represented by a thin vertical line.

Fig. 7 Font used in logo

Because the old logo was the emblem type, 2 variants
were created for the new logo. One of the variants is the
logo originally presented which will be called the ba sic
logo and the second variant is represented by an
adaptation of it in the form of an emblem. The emblem
logo contains the symbol element in the middle and
around it a circular border with the text
„UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA BUCURESTI”. This logo is adap ted for different types of media, both
variants are supported.

Fig. 8 Logo in logo in both versions

5. THE G OLDEN RATIO IN UPB LOGO

The golden ratio is one number that was considered
magic in the Middle Ages. It is a derivative of the
Fibonacci numb ers and with its help Renaissance artists
could reproduce as close to reality various bodies in
nature. This number is found in the construction of
snails, trees, and even in the construction of the human
body. The gold ratio is approximately 1,618 and was also
used to create the new UPB logo.

Fig. 9 Golden ratio

Brand ing of University Politehnica of Bucharest
IAN 2018  VOLUME 11 ISSUE 1 JIDEG 44 Both the symbol element and the entire emblem logo
were created with the help of the golden ratio. According
to the fig.10 after a logo was created as a style and as a
form was intended to ada pt to the proportions of the
golden number. The logos were created by overlapping
the circles in the golden ratio. This helped to arrange
much better the proportions, to be to the pleasing to the
human eye. Due to the well structured proportions the
graphic al elements do not present ambiguities.

Fig. 10 UPB Logo in proportions with golden ration
Nor the way the basic logo is arranged is not a
random one. The basic UPB logo arrangement is made
according to the letter "H" method, which implies the
layout of the graphical elements with a space of the letter
"H" used in the text of logotype. The letter must have the
same dimension everywhere. As you can see the
logotype is larger with 6 units than the symbol, and the
whole logo is larger with 6 units than t he logotype, thus
it is in equilibrium.

Fig. 11 UPB Logo with letter H proportions

The colors used by the visual identity in the logo
variants are blue, dark gray, close to black and light gray,
close to white. There was applied a Concept Art rule t hat
says to never use a 100% white or a 100% black. In the
fig.12 are the color shades, each being expressed in
RGB, CMYK and HEXADECIMAL.

Fig. 12 UPB color palette

Each of the two logos is adapted for each color so it
can be applied to any type of support. Both logos can be
used on business cards, presentation folders, custom
envelopes, patches etc. All details are specified in the
branding manual . The next step after an visual indentity
is done, it’s the development of the branding manual. In
this book it is specified when, where, and how a logo can
be used. the book contains information about all custom
materials .

Branding of University Politehnica of Bucharest
IAN 2018  VOLUME 11 ISSUE 1 JIDEG 45

Fig. 13 UPB base logo in different colors

Fig. 14 UPB emblem logo in different colors

One of the most important problems of th e newly
created visual identity is its adaptability to the visual
identities of university facu lties. Initially, the faculties '
logos were made by each faculty without considering a pattern. The solution that is proposed in this article is to
change the lo gotype of each faculty with the text of the
name, preserving the original font and keeping the
symbol element of the university whose color will vary
from faculty to faculty. Apart from the body of the
Rectorate building in the form of the letter "B" in th e
symbol element all the other elements will have dark
gray color.

Fig. 15 Logos of UPB faculties

Each color present in the visual identities of UPB
faculties will be specified in the branding manual.
Customized materials can be made for each of thes e
faculties.

6. USES OF LOGO

In this section of the article I will mention some
customized materials that should not miss in a brand.
These include business cards, presentation sheets,
letterheads, personalized pens, erasers, personalized
envelopes, and more.It is important to specify that on the
printed elements the colors of the graphic elements will
be slightly different from the monitor because the
monitors display in RGB format and the printers print
CMYK.
Here are some examples of customized materia ls that
contain the identity of UPB. There are two essential
things that are transmitted through these materials. The
first is the transmission of the brand to the public, and the
second is the transmission of the contact the public. It is

Brand ing of University Politehnica of Bucharest
IAN 2018  VOLUME 11 ISSUE 1 JIDEG 46 important for pe ople to stay in touch, especially those
who are loyal to the brand.

Fig. 16 Uses of UPB logo on desk suports

Fig. 17 Business card UPB faces

Although the materials presented in the article were
made for presentation, the design was made as if they
were ready for production. For example, the QR code on
the business card is functional and will direct the user to
the UPB site .

Fig. 18 UPB letterhead

7. CONCLUSIONS

In this article has been exposed a concept of
redesigning the logo of the Polyt echnic University of
Bucharest, being presented creative steps to reach the
final result. As one can see the development of a visual
identity combine several disciplines: history, whether it's
a university like Saint Louis, arts, mathematics.In
conclusion, the realization of a logo redesign represents
an entire process of research, drawing, redevelopment,
projection and presentation.

REFERENCES

[1] Olins, W., (2009). Manual de Branding, Ed. Vellant,
București, pag. 17.
[2] https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/
archives/new_logos_for_saint_louis_ university_by
_olson.php
[3] https://www.slu.edu/marcom/guidelines –
policies/logos/index.php
[4] http://www .upb.ro/despre -upb.html
[5] http://www.upb.ro/i/content/diverse/22.jpg
[6] Adîr, V., Pascu, N., Adîr, G. (2015) Design de Logo,
Printech, 978 -606-23-0544 -4, București.

Author(s):

Master Student Radu Mihail SOFRONE, Politehnica
University of Bucharest, F aculty of Aerospace
Engineering, Department of Engineering Graphics and
Industrial Design, E -mail: radu.r.sofrone@gmail.com