Where unique experiences come together: Refreshing Dalhousie’s brand

June 6, 2022

You’ll notice a few things about Dalhousie look a little different today. And there’s good reason for that.

Our Third Century Promise asks what it would take to lift Dalhousie into the community of the world’s greatest universities. It’s a challenge that requires us to build on the achievements of the last two centuries and prepare to meet the promise of our third century.

By engaging with stakeholders on campus and within our external communities, we’ve gained insight into what makes Dalhousie unique and how we can show up ready to take our place on the world stage. As we listened, we heard the same thing time and time again — our communities are confident in what we’re capable of and they want us to make it known. They’ve asked us to be bolder. To reach further. And to be inclusive in everything we do.

To support this, Communications, Marketing and Creative Services (CMC) has been working on an update to the Dalhousie brand — the tools by which we show and express all this to the world. Now is the perfect time to do this freshening up. We just celebrated 200 years of excellence. Third Century Promise is guiding us forward. Digitization has changed the way we engage and raised the bar for accessibility. Our new brand considers all this and brings it together with the incredible, life-changing moments, discoveries and knowledge that make Dalhousie University an exceptional place.

Because Dalhousie University is where infinite ambition meets global impact.

Where you can find diverse ideas coexisting in harmony. Where transformative education meets groundbreaking research. Where individual experience meets inclusive community. Where bright urban energy meets tree-lined streets. And the results are truly special.

We encourage everyone to explore the brand for themselves here. You’ll see an updated logo with cleaner, rounded lines — more approachable and contemporary while also meeting the increased requirements for digital communications. And with more a legible standard font, improved colours that meet visual standards, and modifications to comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, this new brand is more accessible than before.

As we roll out this evolutionary brand refresh, we’re also encouraging our colleagues and partners to consider ways the brand can have meaning within their areas — the new brand platform allows for considerable flexibility while remaining aligned to ensure a consistent presence for Dalhousie in everything we do. Through this transition we also want to be conscious of costs and our impact on the environment. We’re asking everyone to use up existing inventories of current branded materials before moving to new materials. Digital assets will be easier to update, so that’s where you’ll see the first changes. We’ll be prioritizing updates based on impact and visibility but ask for your help in identifying materials that should be updated. If you see something that requires an update, you can let us know here.

President Deep Saini offered the following thoughts on the refreshed brand:

“My thanks to the team at Communications, Marketing and Creative Services for their leadership in this effort, and to all who contributed to the consultation process including students, alumni, Deans, other senior leaders, faculty, staff, the project advisory group and more. This is an exciting milestone as we forge ahead in fulfilling our shared promise and showing the world what Dalhousie has to offer.”

Today is a first step in our brand reveal, and we have other important initiatives planned that will also help the brand to incorporate equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility even more strongly into our brand platform. We look forward to sharing more with you in the weeks and months to come.

Sincerely,

Matt Proctor
Assistant Vice-President, Communications, Marketing and Creative Services (CMC)
Dalhousie University

Dalhousie University is located in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq. We are all Treaty people.
We recognize that African Nova Scotians are a distinct people whose histories, legacies and contributions have enriched that part of Mi’kma’ki known as Nova Scotia for over 400 years.