SUSS Rebrand: Stop Killing Alphabets
The logo U didn't ask for.
Last week, the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) unveiled its new logo to reflect its new position as a university under the Ministry of Education (MOE). Here's a quick recap of the events which happened and how we landed up with SUSS:
A few months back, SIM University announced it would change its name to SUSS.
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| Web Notice (Source) |
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| Pre-SUSS days |
Essentially, SIM University would no longer be part of the SIM family, hence the need for a name change. The focus of the institution is clearly reflected in its new name, so kudos to MOE for that!
Until recently, SUSS did not have a logo. A rather dull wordmark was used, either to generate hype for the new logo, or to serve as a warning sign that the design team did not complete the branding on time. They certainly did not pay much attention to the wordmark, that's for sure.
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| Singapore University of boring typefaces and bad kerning (Source) |
Some people thought that the wordmark was the new logo, because SUSS did not tell anyone that this was a temporary one.
For 2.5 months, SUSS posted announcements occasionally, with the wordmark replacing the SIM University logo. As it was the school holidays, SUSS did not need to use that wordmark that often.
The new logo was announced on the 2nd of June.
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| Facebook post (Source) |
Here's how SUSS explained the logo:
"Introducing our new logo! We’ve merged the acronym and full name of our university, for a simple, yet strong identity!
Blue and red have also been adopted as our official colours because they represent what the university stands for! Blue represents significance, importance and confidence, reflecting our core belief that everyone has the right to a good education and brighter future, while red represents determination and passion – qualities that relate closely to humanity, which is at the heart of social sciences.
Wonder what the three dots stand for? They’re the key tenets of the well-rounded education that we aim to deliver – one grounded on our education philosophy of ‘Head’ (professional competence and job-readiness), ‘Heart’ (social awareness and consciousness) and ‘Habit’ (self-directed and lifelong learning)!"
-SUSS
Ta-daaaa! Oh wait, whoops
Immediate public reaction was not very positive, with the top comment demanding that the words be centralised or justified. Some compared this to the Singtel logo, while others just said that using Comic Sans would be more mature than this. 50 comments of pure roasting.
Without further ado, let me offer my 2 cents on the logo:
Font Choice
Referring to the announcement post, the SUSS logo does look very simple. Overly simple? Not really. The problem lies in the font choice: rounded-edged fonts are less likely to be taken seriously because its a common font choice for kid brands (Lego, kindergartens).
I previously said that polytechnics have more room to experiment with designs, because they only provide diploma level education. I think SUSS is trying to be a polytechnic when it should really 'grow up'. Just imagine this logo on your degree, how would you feel? Does it feel less professional?
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| Fonts evoke different feelings |
Alignment-wise, I actually do not see any issue with the the words being aligned-right. It seems just as balanced when the words are centralised. I think it has to do with the colour, shape and positioning of the "U", which makes this alignment appear fine.
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| Both are fine and balanced, in my opinion |
The Maimed U
The elephant in the room, of course, is that U, or what's left of it after a Pac-Man game. Each dot is supposed to represent a key tenet of the education they aim to deliver: ‘Head’ (professional competence and job-readiness), ‘Heart’ (social awareness and consciousness) and ‘Habit’ (self-directed and lifelong learning).
However, all I see is this:
There are definitely better ways to fit 3 dots nicely, such as positioning it on top/below the U.
After poking around the letters, I realised that the U in the logo is really doomed to fail and irritate people. Look at the logo again: if you imagine the U to be filled (no dots), it still looks funny, right?
SUSS actually squeezed the letter, a crime in the design world. They might have used a different font, but that is equally as bad.
I took the 'U' from the 'University' and enlarged it to fit the size of 'SUSS', and we have our culprit. The dot issue is nothing compared to this mistake, which will make you cringe every time you look at it. I just cannot think of any good reason why they had squeeze the letter!
However, all I see is this:
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| That's a no go. |
There are definitely better ways to fit 3 dots nicely, such as positioning it on top/below the U.
After poking around the letters, I realised that the U in the logo is really doomed to fail and irritate people. Look at the logo again: if you imagine the U to be filled (no dots), it still looks funny, right?
SUSS actually squeezed the letter, a crime in the design world. They might have used a different font, but that is equally as bad.
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| What a tragedy! RIP U |
Application
Once the new logo went public, SUSS quickly swapped the wordmark for the new logo, but there was a lack of solid brand applications. The Facebook cover photo merely changed logos, hardly improving the image at all.
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| Sigh (Source) |
However, they did manage to come up with a pretty neat favicon, something which might be overlooked during the design process led by even the best design agencies.
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| It's not perfect, but they actually put some effort into making this |
A few days back, SUSS posted this image which actually looks not bad. The dots create a simple but memorable pattern. The image is not in high quality but I think it is a good start to a (hopefully) consistent and pleasing identity. That is the only thing which can save the logo.
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| New Minor/Certificate (Source) |
SUSS should keep trying and find unique ways to spice up their brand applications. Generic stock photos of students are so 2000.
An SUSS Crest?
Some people on Facebook suggested that SUSS should create a university crest like NUS or NTU, which I'm all for, because it will nicely complement or replace the logo when featured on extra formal documents such as degree certificates.
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| NTU, NUS and SUSS logos |
However, I disagree that the crest should replace logo. Logos are meant to be recognisable even at the smallest of sizes, and a crest will not do the trick with all the tiny elements.
Was really looking forward to seeing something better...
I actually turned on post notifications for SUSS to "see first", so that I would be the first to see the logo, but the result disappointed me. Well, at least we'll always have Eunoia JC's branding to admire.
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I think SUSS
