More on Visual Identity
Not sure if most of you have found this already through WOWF (Window on Wake Forest - the headlines section on top right of main wfu.edu home page), but there is a link to our Visual Identity website. http://www.wfu.edu/identity/
The Visual Identity committee (of which I am a member, in the interest of full disclosure) is the group that worked with a design firm to agree on standardization of our visual elements, including the new logo, photography, the kinds of words we use to describe Mother So Dear, etc. There were I think 23 or 25 of us, representing all areas of the campus (academics, athletics, administration, merchandising, undergrad and professional schools, student representation, legal, you name it). Anyway, for those who are truly interested in the enormity of the project, you can look at the visual identity manual online and see some of our group’s thoughts about graphic standards, etc.
One of the big misconceptions from the alumni I have heard from is re: the use of ‘complementary colors’. There are 8 complementary colors in the official visual identity palette, including a couple shades of blue and green - as well as red, purple, gray. (Sidebar: yes, we were VERY careful not to be too Duke or Carolina with the blues).
To debunk a myth: no, we are not making red an offical part of our logo, our uniforms, whatever. These extra colors can be used in magazines or brochures or other print material to add a little bit of kick to what otherwise would largely be just black and gold.
There were some who saw the new admissions search piece - which shows the new logo with a bar of red running along top or bottom. And the WF sports boards were up in arms about us having red as part of the logo. Here is what really happened: that admissions piece got designed before our standards were completed. It had the new logo on it, but we had not finished all the other standards that dictate where you can and can’t place color next to the logo.
So rest assured that in future publications, there will be a ‘no fly zone’ around the logo - where no other colors would penetrate. Old gold and black will always be our school colors!
—————————————-
And on an unrelated note…yesterday I was in a meeting and looked at my Treo and saw that I had 60 new messages - which is certainly not the norm for me. Most of them said “failed message” or something strange. And when I looked at them, I realized that some spammer had been sending out emails (about ‘exquisite replica watches’ and - much to my absolute horror - adult material) using my email address as the ‘reply to’.
After nearly having apoplexy thinking that somehow my entire email address book would be getting watch and adult spam from me, our IS Help Desk assured me that any spammer or phisher out there can find email addresses and use them to send their spam. It was nothing against me personally, someone just found my email (since it is out there pretty frequently).
Heaven forbid any of you get any spam - let me just state for the record that neither I nor Wake Forest sent it.