From the Nominator

"In 2021, The American University of Paris found itself at the end of one strategic plan and embarking on the next, which aimed to secure AUP’s place as the premier American international institution of higher learning in Europe. An audit revealed that the previous seven years had seen significant growth in AUP’s reputation, placing it in an exclusive peer group of universities identified as “academic explorers.” 

The AUP logo, however, had not evolved since the University adopted a 50th anniversary wordmark a decade ago. AUP needed a new logo to reflect this compelling reputational journey and better communicate its values in the highly competitive international recruitment market. Community buy-in was central to the success of the project. With an average lifespan of 4.5 years, AUP’s previous logos had left a fragmented perception of its brand in the minds of its diverse, multigenerational community. 

The new logo needed to break this cycle and rally prospective, current, and former students; faculty and staff; and friends and partners of the university around an authentic vision of AUP today and into the future. The logo design process took this complexity into account by forming five committees, one representing each target audience. Committee members were asked to share their own perceptual journeys of AUP, first within their committees, then later across committees. This exchange generated insights that served to identify common threads that were woven together to form a matrix of core values that directly informed the creative process and the final design."

From the Judges

The judges found this new logo design and rollout to be truly exceptional. We commend AUP for its strong attention to detail and careful consideration toward rebranding an institution with multiple stakeholders involved. We were truly impressed with AUP's ability to complete this task in-house and appreciate that similar emphasis was placed on the overall process as well as final design.