Just like individuals, every organisation, company or brand has its own identity. A distinct identity differentiates an organisation from its competitors. It allows customers, suppliers and staff to recognise, understand and clearly describe the organisation concerned. The identity of any organisation is complex. It includes the effectiveness of its services or products, the shared values and ambitions of its employees, the corporate tone of voice and PR profile. Naturally, its visual appearance - or visual identity - plays a key role.

Visual identity manifests itself in many ways. In addition to its logo, typeface and colours, the following all contribute to the impression created by the identity: stationery, marketing literature, buildings signage, customer information, vehicles, and every aspect of promotional activity from a high-profile advertising campaign to the design of a promotional pen.

The education sector in the UK is crowded and competitive. Universities compete with each other for students and staff, public funding and commercial income and, increasingly, corporate gifts and philanthropy. The way to achieve success in such a highly competitive arena is through differentiation, by developing a distinctive brand personality and set of values which appeal to the University’s key audiences.

The detailed management of a visual identity is equally important as the management of other business assets such as finance or human resources. Without a well thought out visual identity guideline, an organisation’s brand perception will be at best diluted, and at worse appear chaotic and unprofessional.

When all of the visual elements of an organisation work together in unity, the investment in its identity is protected and the overall image becomes one of quality and strength.

The importance of the parent brand and its sub-brand relationship

If the University of Warwick is a brand it is possible to think of departments within the University as being 'sub brands' - individual services or operations, which ultimately share the same values and characteristics of the 'parent brand'.

Many departments are an integral part of the parent brand, using only the main University logo and presenting themselves as central University activities. However, some departments have a more distant relationship, represented by their own departmental logos and using individual marketing and communication strategies.

The objective of having the Warwick web template is to maintain a high level of consistency in the user experience. To ensure this consistency during the move to ID6 the guidelines concerning departmental logos are that they should only be used on the first page, and within the main body, of the departmental sub-site (i.e not in the Header or Footer).

The following pages give examples of how the corporate identity should be applied in the case of both the parent brand (including those departments represented only by the University logo) and sub brands.

Comments and Queries

If you have any queries about using the corporate identity, staff at Warwick Print, e-lab and the Communications Office are pleased to give specific advice and any unresolved queries or disagreements relating to these areas can be put to the Director of Communication Ian Rowley.