Following a creative development process that involved hundreds of UC Riverside students, faculty, staff, and friends, the new UCR brand visual identity launched in June 2020. The new identity updated the university’s logo, monogram, graphic icons, typography, color palette, and design guidelines. UC Riverside’s new institutional identity served as the creative inspiration for an update to its athletics identity, which launched one month later. As a result, the university has an institutional and athletics look that is much more aligned than many of its counterparts nationwide.
Oftentimes, a revision–even a minor one–to an institutional visual identity is met with fierce resistance and controversy across the campus. Rebranding in the midst of one of the most disruptive periods in the past century added additional complexity.
Thanks to a deliberate, inclusive process that engaged constituents in brand positioning and messaging before ever mentioning logos and colors, the outcome at UCR was a rousing success. Instead of email missives and petitions, the new identity saw rapid adoption, enthusiastic alumni and donors, minimal concerns and complaints, and an immediate transformation of the university’s digital presence.
A digital-centered launch coincided with the university’s first online graduation celebration, which allowed UC Riverside’s newest alumni to be among the first to see the full expression of the new identity.
The new brand visual identity capped off a two-year process that resulted in deep research, new brand positioning, and an updated messaging platform that reflects UC Riverside’s rise as a trendsetter in higher education.
