It has been called ¡°bland¡± and ¡°corporate¡±, its colours ¡°anaemic¡± and its design drained of meaning. For Trinity College Dublin, a major overhaul of its official logo has not gone entirely to plan.
But after the proposal drew strong resistance from academics and students at a town hall meeting on 4?April, Trinity College provost Patrick Prendergast has insisted that the institution will not push ahead without public backing and said ¡°significant change¡± might be needed.
¡°It¡¯s not a matter of just tweaking the one presented. Absolutely not,¡± he told ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ.
The draft logo is part of Trinity¡¯s ¡°identity initiative¡±, a project launched a year ago with a budget of €100,000 (?83,000) and intended to tidy up a ¡°fragmented¡± visual identity caused by the use of hundreds of different logos and a range of name variants across academic and administrative departments.
The proposed rebranding refers to ¡°Trinity College, the University of Dublin¡± ¨C replacing the current ¡°Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin¡±. The change is intended to emphasise Trinity¡¯s status as a university, particularly among prospective students, while eliminating the double use of the word ¡°Dublin¡±, Professor Prendergast explained.
However, the legal name of the institution ¨C the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin ¨C will not change, and Trinity College Dublin will remain in use for scholarly publications.
In addition to the name change, the logo¡¯s proposed new shield would remove the original five-colour scheme featuring blue and gold ¨C a combination consultants felt was too closely associated with budget brands such as Ryanair and Ikea.
In its place, a simple blue and white scheme reveals three elements from the existing shield ¨C a harp, a lion and a castle ¨C while the fourth, a clasped Bible or book, is replaced with an image of an open book taken from a separate university shield.
But critics say the proposed changes are an attempt to fix something that isn¡¯t broken.
¡°I think it looks flat and corporate and bland,¡± said Brian Lucey, professor of finance in Trinity¡¯s School of Business.
¡°It looks very washed out and very anaemic to me,¡± said Trinity pro-chancellor John Scattergood, adding that the attempt to combine elements of separate shields ¡°drags all the meaning out of them¡±. On the logo name proposal, he added: ¡°This is all about recognition and I?don¡¯t think there¡¯s a problem with recognition. People recognise Trinity College Dublin.¡±
As for the association with budget brands, the original Trinity crest ¡°is no more similar to Ryanair than it would be to a symbol in Chinese¡±, said David McConnell, a professor of genetics.
Public feedback on the new design is due by the end of April, but Professor Prendergast said that a final decision would not be rushed. ¡°We¡¯re going to take the time to do it right,¡± he said.
