Photo taken by: Melissa Rechin / Layout Editor
BRITTANY PERRY
Special to The Leader
In June, the university announced a huge change to be implemented on the Fredonia campus.
Fredonia faculty and students would return in the fall to a new visual identity, consisting of a new university logo and name. And that we did — the university is now referred to as just “Fredonia” due to the confusion for out-of-state residents and international students.
“Many people thought that ‘Fredonia State’ and ‘SUNY Fredonia’ were two separate campuses,” said Marketing and Communications Director Mike Barone. “In some international settings, there would be some difficulty recognizing Fredonia as an institution of higher education without the word ‘university’ or ‘college’ in its name.”
According to University guidelines, the logo consists of the symbol, university name and the phrase “State University of New York,” which must be treated as one unit.
“SUNY is a very unique system,” Barone continued. “Most state systems have a massive central flagship campus and smaller satellite campuses.”
There are four flagship campuses in the SUNY system, as opposed to the smaller satellite campuses. And although they are seen as some of the best-known institutions in the state, none of them use the SUNY acronym.
Fredonia has also traded in its 30-year-old logo for a more modern design, which has been met with mixed responses from students and faculty.
“Our logo was dated,” said Barone. “Visually, it didn’t represent what we wanted for a modern, progressive campus.”
The new logo, designed by Communications Designer Patty Herkey, incorporates the campus’ unique I.M. Pei architecture, while creatively using a pair of three-dimensional “F”s — one white, and one reversed, in blue — coming together to form a multi-story structure. The converging “F”s also form arrow-like elements that serve as metaphors for the progress and transformation which Fredonia students experience, as well as the leadership role the university takes in the community from an engagement and economic development perspective. At the top and right of the logo, the converging “F”s also form a mortar board and tassel — the traditional cap worn during a graduation ceremony.
“I’m hoping that the new brand will attract more students,” Herkey said. “Obviously, I hope it has a positive impact. I think that the look and feel is modern and very current and will represent Fredonia’s moving forward in to the future.”
The campus decided to design the new logo internally to better manage the cost. The college was able to keep the total expenditures well under $300,000 and will spread them over the course of two fiscal years.
Initially, there were multiple designs to be considered, but a 17-member Re-branding Committee — which included President Virginia Horvath and her Cabinet — made numerous revisions to the font and arrangement of elements based on feedback from the community.
Many of the designs were based on the idea of the Fredonia “F” coming together to form a final shape. It was a simple concept, but one that Herkey said had a lot of potential. There were some that formed the shape of a home, because many of the students in the focus groups had said that Fredonia “felt like home.”
It was that feedback from current and prospective students which really drove the design.
“Students spoke about how forward thinking, accepting, attractive, clean and exciting this campus is,” Barone said. “They also spoke of how their faculty challenges them but in a way that’s also encouraging and supportive. All of that feedback went into the design of the new mark, and it is these points of distinction relative to other SUNY schools — and other schools right here in Western New York — that we wanted to embrace and resonate.”
However, many students, particularly upperclassman, do not share the same fervor about the new logo.
“I thought the change was unnecessary,” said first-year curriculum and instruction graduate student Courtney Mcilwain. “I feel like the clock tower looked much nicer than the current design.”
The main issue many students have is that they do not understand what the design represents.
“When I first saw it, I didn’t understand the interpretation,” said senior English adolescent education major Kristin Vignona. “I couldn’t see how it was unique to Fredonia.”
Despite having the new logo on banners and merchandise, the university seal will remain in their current locations to provide the traditional look and feel to campus.