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KU's Design Innovation Center develops college-specific symbols ...

Writer : KU Today
Hits : 763
Date : 2019-02-20

INSIGHT
Korea University’s Design Innovation Center led by Professor Kwon MinSung (School of Art and Design) develops college-specific symbols for the first time in Korea

In celebration of the university’s 111th anniversary, KU’s Design Innovation Center developed a college symbol system. It was part of an effort to streamline symbols that emphasize the pride and spirit of individual schools and colleges while maintaining the framework of the primary logo. Located at the Chungsan-MK Cultural Hall, the Design Innovation Center was opened in June 2015 mainly for the purpose of developing the KU logo and symbols. It began its initiative of development by collecting stories of subunits of KU under the leadership of Professor Kim Hyun of the School of Art and Design.

"The purpose of the old logo commemorating the 100th anniversary was to wish for KU's growth into a world-class university. KU has already attained that goal, and some design issues have been raised including overlapping English typefaces within and beneath the logo. Realizing that KU succeeded in increasing its academic reputation, but neglected to enhance the brand value, the KU community started to work on a new logo in celebration of its 111th anniversary in 2016 that would retain the tradition of the KU coat of arms that has been in use from 1905. The new logo maintains the features and content of the coat of arms, yet provides a modern feel by changing the hand-drawings to a graphic and is of high-value adding hybrid design where the book at the top looks neat with the uniform spacing between lines. The color system also has been digitally refined to appear the same both in print and photography," explains Professor Kwon MinSung of the School of Art and Design, who is currently serving as the Center’s director.

In short, the modernized 111th anniversary logo has formed the foundation of the 22 college symbols and enhanced the historical significance and values of KU.

Twenty-two symbols embodying consistent visual elements of the entire university and the values of individual colleges

▲(From the left) Old coat of arms, the 100th anniversary global symbol (developed in 2005), and the 111th anniversary symbol (developed in 2016) as the basis of design for the 22 college symbols

The shield in the 111th anniversary logo remains intact in the 22 symbols while integrated elements called “KU Stripes” complete the system. Horizontal lines in the KU coat of arms, the “KU Stripes” are symbolic elements embodying the university’s motto of “Liberty, Justice and Truth.” There are three variations of the stripes: horizontal stripes are used for colleges of humanities to symbolize the determination of 'Justice', vertical stripes for colleges of sciences and engineering to symbolize the clarity of 'Truth' and diagonal stripes for colleges of arts and sports to represent 'Liberty.' The college symbol color follows the international standards for each discipline, and the representative emblems are designed to show the pride and spirit of individual colleges with the collected stories on their history and tradition, education principles, symbols and initials in mind.

"The Design Innovation Center put completing the framework first before collecting, and the main symbol and the secondary symbol used inside it were left to the discretion of each college as possible to produce a symbol system that suits each college best. Keeping the independence and autonomy of each college in balance with the overarching tradition of KU was our first priority."

The 22 college symbols have profound significance in that they are the first-ever design system established by a university in Korea. The Center will continue to endeavor to raise KU’s value through ongoing brand management activities and plans to release products with licenses owned by KU. The college symbols are downloadable at the KU Intellectual Property System (KIPS) on the KU portal.

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