Macquarie University

Macquarie University is an Australian university on the cusp of being one of Australia’s top eight universities. A younger university, about to reach their 50th year, Macquarie prides itself on being an alternative to the older universities that follow the traditional UK/USA universities that choose to brand with old-style crests.

Macquarie’s previous brand featured a lighthouse. The link between the University and the brand was ambiguous. The brand was weak & diluted, with no brand management. Thus, the many departments within the university had the freedom to blur the lines of the brand. It was time to take stock of who the university was & to modernise the brand.

After intensive internal & external market research, the University determined its ‘Voice’ & ‘Personality’, which the new logo & branding would share. The decision was made to contrast with old-style crests that the other Australian universities choose to use (often incorporating literal elements such as books) and use an abstract form.

The final branding solution represented the natural environment surrounding the University, with subtle references to the leafy green campus & the lotus flowers found on the lake. These elements combined to reflect the flexible, contemporary & agile characteristics of the University’s voice, culminating in a timeless abstract form. So as not to ignore the heritage of the previous logo, the new logo featured the Sirius Star, which is present in both.