The independent student newspaper of Stevens Institute of Technology

On May 20, Stevens released its new brand guidelines, updating the school’s message and imagery. In addition to this, Stevens also updated their logo, replacing it with a new, more minimalist version of the old one. Over the summer, all images of the old logo have been cleared from all digital and campus spaces, now replaced by the new image. Stevens chose to make this change quietly, not releasing a campus-wide email or releasing an official statement giving the reason for the change. 

This change seems to align with the goals of Stevens’ new 10-year plan, which aims to modernize the university. The new logo depicts the top of the Edwin A. Stevens building, the first building on campus, showing some similarity to the old design but now in a modern, simplistic style. Below that is a small star, also borrowed from the old design, and block letters saying “Stevens Institute of Technology 1870.” The redesign as well as new marketing material have an emphasis on bold, angular designs to give the school a more sleek, cutting-edge appeal. 

Along with changing the imagery used, Stevens also updated their brand messaging, and what words and phrases staff is allowed to use when writing public-facing content. These rules dictate how to write advertising material and external messages for prospective students, parents, and businesses. The changes include an emphasis on succinct wording and changing vocabulary to be more future-focused by replacing words like “pioneer” with “innovator” to avoid sounding dated. 

Notably, these changes were made seemingly without much student input. In the section labeled “Our Message” Stevens outlines that the new values and beliefs are “informed by a series of stakeholder interviews,” which does not mention any student input involved in picking these new guidelines. 

Previous iterations of the Stevens logo have strongly relied on student input. In 2010, Stevens changed their logo using student input to choose the final design by launching a program called “Let’s FACE it, it takes a campus to decide.” Four logo options were posted to the school’s Facebook fan page and anyone within the Stevens community was encouraged to vote. The logos were created after dozens of interviews and focus groups with members of the Stevens community. This way the design incorporated important aspects of the university that students and faculty deemed important to represent. 

Published in Campus News, News and University Affairs

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The independent student newspaper of Stevens Institute of Technology