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April 19, 2001 -- For the past 20 years, the University has seen a proliferation of school, center and departmental logos. An informal survey recently found 55 different logos in use across Grounds, featuring more than a half dozen versions of the Rotunda. James Bell, partner in a New York image management firm and University alumnus, said the University’s situation was not unprecedented in higher education, but neither was it uncommon for a university to adopt a single primary “mark.” He recommended the creation of a logo to graphically unify the University.
“The results blend a 21st-century outlook with a firm grounding in Jeffersonian tradition,” said Robert D. Sweeney, senior vice president for development and public affairs. The effort to create that single logo was the result of a yearlong discussion on the University’s identity, begun by Sweeney as part of his newly expanded role that includes oversight of the University Relations office. Through meetings with hundreds of University alumni, faculty, students and staff, Sweeney and an ad hoc committee developed a definition of the University that took into account Jefferson’s founding vision that this university link education and democracy in a uniquely American way. The logo is a modern interpretation of that vision. The new rendering of the Rotunda, done by Charlottesville graphic designer and University alumnus Jim Gibson, is based on Jefferson’s own drawing, in which he dotted into the square building a perfect sphere that is a continuation of the Rotunda roof line. This adaptation uses the 13 stars from the original American flag to signify Jefferson’s intention to create a national university to inspire generations of leaders that would follow his own. Details on the logo implementation plan will be forthcoming. |
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New U.Va. Logo Debuts
At
the Faculty Senate meeting April 19, President John T. Casteen III
introduced a new University logo that pairs a contemporary rendering
of the Rotunda with a reinterpretation of an 18th-century typeface
called Caslon – the typeface that was used to set the first
printed edition of the Declaration of Independence.