Nov. 4,
2004

NU selects new logo as part of branding campaign

By Tom Holmes
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

The votes have been cast, and the winner is Alden Partridge -- for the new Norwich University logo, that is.

After months of various design reviews and NU voting, a new logo for the university has been approved by Norwich President Richard Schneider. This was part of the new branding plan underway to distinguish Norwich from other universities.

“About three years ago, I decided we really had to do something with our national image in branding the institution,” Schneider said. “Branding the institution is one of our three major objectives in NU 2019, which is our strategic plan.”

Schneider put together a branding committee a year ago, which was led by Dr. Fred Snow, NU vice president and dean of the online graduate programs, to begin the process of finding something newer than the elliptical image of Jackman Hall, which has served as the Norwich logo for several years.

There were some specific problems with the logo that led Schneider and others to look for something else.

“The old logo does not work very well for a number of reasons,” Snow said. “Jackman Hall is only really relevant to about half of the alumni. People who were here before Jackman Hall was built didn’t even recognize the building.

“The other problem is that it really doesn’t represent the values of Norwich University,” he said. “It doesn’t differentiate us from thousands of other schools out there that also use kind of the top of their building as their logo.”

The branding committee got in touch with a number of different firms, including Stamats, the company which helped shape this year’s “Norwich to the Power of Infinity” marketing campaign, Snow said.

Those companies then conducted surveys and focus groups and returned to Snow and his team with a number of different possibilities, including a large “NU” with the silhouette of an eagle in the middle of it; an image of a shining star with an “N” and an open book; and an image that included Alden Partridge and the Centennial Stairs.

“We found that there was one particular design type that was very popular, and that was the one that included Partridge and the staircase,” Snow said.

Schneider said that the selected design “captured what we think are the attributes of Norwich.”

Snow took the number of possibilities for a logo and then put the design elements back out to a variety of firms and had them develop 10 different variations. After this had been accomplished, it was time to see what the Norwich community thought about the ideas. Displays were put up in the library, and a number of online surveys were taken, which attracted more than 1,200 responses on the possible logos. After the votes had come in, the image of Alden Partridge with the stairs and "1819" was the unanimous winner.

“They are making some final fine adjustments right now,” Schneider said, “But in essence, it will be Partridge, the Centennial Stairs, and 1819.”

Schneider and Snow have cited some specific reasons for the final selection.

“We wanted to find theoretically a logo that really represented what Norwich was about,” Snow said.

Schneider added that Partridge was selected “because he was our founder. He does look military; it’s clear that he’s in a military uniform of that vintage.”

Schneider added that the year, “1819 is important for us, because we want people to know that we are a very old school. And then the stairs: There’s a whole bunch of things we could do with the stairs. First off, every alum knows the Centennial Stairs.”

Snow mentioned an interesting advantage that may come with the logo, explaining that, “People outside of Norwich aren’t going to know the stairs, and they aren’t going to know Partridge.” However, according to Snow, this could work to the institution’s advantage, because “Your subconscious is curious. You’re going to take an extra second to identify what it is,” he said. “At that point in time, the logo has done its job.”

Snow’s vision is that the logo will represent the underlying values of Norwich, like honor or achievement. Snow said there could also be other advantages coming from this particular logo design.

“The other thing it allows us to do is educate people,” he said. “When they first come to visit Norwich University, they don’t have a clue what the logo means.

“But on their tours, in their interviews, the first thing we’ll be able to do is educate them on what Norwich really means,” Snow said.

The logo also sometimes include a tag line which says, “Expect Challenge, Achieve Distinction.”

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