Penn States New Logo (week 6)

Hi guys, thank you for stopping by...

For this weeks post, i decided to share the story i wrote about Penn States new logo.

For reference here is a picture of the two logos, old and new. Please let me know what you thoughts are in the comment section. 

Old logo on the top, New logo below it.

Thank you for reading!

New Logo

It is difficult to determine if the university has achieved the purpose of changing the Penn State logo.

Strength, distinction, memorability, endurance, visual appeal, meaningfulness and legal viability were supposedly the seven elements that influenced the design of the new logo.

However, it is difficult to comprehend how $128,000 was spent on a logo that turned out the way it did.

To put it bluntly, the new logo shows that more value was placed on the opinions of the so-called experts who designed it than the reaction of the students and alumni who have to live with it.

Specifically, the graphic of the lion head in the shield looks too much like a comic, and the font used to spell out “Penn State” is not classy or professional enough.

Many believe that it has failed to maintain the original heritage and prestige of the university. The old logo boasted the year Penn State was founded – a fact that many alumni were proud of. The new logo, however, dismisses that part our heritage by excluding it.

Even though it can be easily argued that the shield and lion head are symbols of Penn State heritage, zooming in on just the face does not convey the power or grandeur that the Lion Shrine has come to represent.

The new logo is supposedly designed to maintain the original heritage while being more friendly in this digital era, compared to the old logo that was developed in the 1980’s. While the logo may be more modern and easier to use digitally, that shouldn’t be the reason to change something that has come to mean so much to the very people who make up this great university.

Penn State has nearly 100,000 students enrolled across its system, with more than 600,000 living alumni across the globe. It is reasonable for the alums and students of Penn State to expect a logo that reflects the heritage of the university.