Resetting the NTU Singapore corporate identity
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, (NTU Singapore)is a young university founded in 1991 which ranks globally as 11th in the 2018 QS World rankings.
I was hired to help in the review and design of NTU Singapore's corporate and visual identity. The goal was to promote a university-centric (as opposed to unit-centric) approach to the brand.
Because of the heritage and the origins of the university, it was particularly important that the university’s name (‘Nanyang’) and its existing crest were retained in the process. The strategy was to take a minimalist approach to refreshing the logo. While modest in its degree of change, the new visual identity and its policies still had to be carefully developed and implemented.
The focus was to provide coherence and strengthen NTU’s visual identity. Various design templates and options were created, so users felt they had choices, and so that minimum standards for the university were met.
A simple and clear toolkit was created:
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Master logo + alternative formats — horizontal, stacked and vertical, monogram — were developed, along with various required art formats (black and white and monos).
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The artwork for the master logo was tidied up, and the colours in the artwork were rationalized from the previous 27 colours to just 7 colours, which reduces the risks of errors.
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PF Din was chosen as the primary corporate typeface for all mass produced marketing materials. Others included a Chinese typeface, a prestige font used for ceremonial purposes only, a web typeface, and a set of corporate colour templates (primary, secondary and ‘prestige’ metallic for rare occasions).
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Full suite of standard corporate stationery: business cards (dual use English and Chinese), letterheads, envelopes, email sign-off templates, corporate folders, Powerpoint templates and display and recruitment advertising templates.
The overall campaign won the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) Golden World Award in June 2018 for Reputation & brand management - Inhouse. It also has been recognized by The Holmes Report with the 2018 Asia Pacific In2 Sabre Award.
