First off, the College thing. This was brought up in class, so just to briefly reiterate we ceased being a college around the exact time that our identity was drafted. In Canada, colleges are inferior to universities, which OCAD is. The impact this has on it's students and faculty is widespread, we've all uttered the phrase "It's a university, the name just says college".
Not to mention the simple font cutouts that comprise the banners down McCaul st. While 'designerly' they read 'Imagination... is ever... ything' or worse 'f art and design'. Simply put, our identity as it stands solidifies us as a silly art school where people do silly things, as opposed to a serious institution.
Let's not even get into the ridiculous Sharp Centre and how that causes people to perceive us.
3 comments:
While they say theres no such thing as bad publicity, I think your perception of OCAD as a "silly art school" has some ground, however have you looked at any other art institutions like OCAD and their brand presence? As someone who has done research on OCAD and come from another institution, I can safely say that while the students may not appreciate all the "bullshit" they put up with here, our brand has quite a strong presence in our community and the industry. Sure our buildings may be unique, but let me tell you that it feels a lot nicer coming to a school where at least some degree of design has been applied to it's construction. Power cords that repel from the ceiling! That blew me a way! There are tons of things that I can say I haven't enjoyed about OCAD, but compared to other institutions such as NSCAD (http://www.nscad.ca), Emily Carr (http://www.eciad.ca/), or ACAD (http://www.acad.ab.ca/) we have probably one of the most distinctive and strongest brands around.
Also, who cares how other people perceive us and the Sharp Centre? The people you need to worry abouts perceptions are not going to give two shits what the school you went to looks like
I have to agree with Sam because love it or hate it the cornerstone is still stronger than the "multicolored" OCA and OCAD logo they had before. Granted I'm not a huge fan myself and I still think they could have and still can do much better, but I don't think it's the catastrophic design insult some make it out to be. Frankly, OCAD has bigger fish to fry right now than how stupid their logo looks...
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