Logo gives NIU website 
a face-lift

DeKALB – Those who log onto Northern Illinois University's website today should see that the school's home page has a new look.

The university's new logo, which was rolled out late last month, will now appear on any new stationary, brochures and other publications, taking place of the old NIU word mark.

In an effort to conserve funds, NIU spokesman Brad Hoey said faculty and staff members have a year to exhaust their existing stationary and business cards with the old word mark before they're required to order new supplies with the new logo. Many employees knew the change was coming, he said, so they've been ordering smaller amounts of supplies.

Hoey estimated that after the logo has been implemented across the board the cost of new logo for the university will total about $20,000, with the bulk of the cost – $15,000 – going to the Pennsylvania-based design company, Joe Bosack Graphic Design, which created the final logo.

"That is a bargain by any stretch of the imagination," he said.

Though a committee vetted about 100 submissions, almost all from designers affiliated with NIU, Hoey said opinion polls continued to favor the design submitted by the Joe Bosack Graphic Design Co., which specializes in institutional identification and collegiate athletic identification.

"It was our data" that led to the final decision, Hoey said. "It was the one that people voted for."

Jennice O'Brien, interim team leader for web communications at NIU, said NIU's former logo, its letters-only word mark, rolled out in 2006 when the university's website was redesigned. She said the word mark took the place of the university's centennial celebration logo created in 1995. Both of those logos were created in-house at no cost to the university, said Carlos Granados, director of the Office of Publications at NIU.

He had a hand in designing the centennial celebration logo, which he said was later replaced by the word mark because the detail of the centennial logo didn't transfer well to the web.

Before the centennial logo was created in the mid-1990s, Granados said NIU hadn't created a new logo since the 1970s.

"I think it's a great logo," he said. "It's a good identity for the university and everyone will recognize it in due time."

The design company was the only part of the process that wasn't performed in-house, Hoey said. The surveys and public opinion polls were all done at no cost to the university, he said.

"Because we're doing so much internally, we'll recoup the benefits of the logo for years and years to come," he said.

Hoey said the new logo is just one step toward the university's branding efforts, which officials hope will help with student recruitment in a competitive region.

A University Communications Council is in the process of forming to help craft some of the university's marketing and branding initiatives, Hoey said. The council will consist of 45 people, many of whom are affiliated with web communications, marketing and public relations at NIU, who are gearing up to meet monthly to discuss ways to enhance the university's communications efforts.