Overview
This was a large-scale, high-profile project with heavy stakeholder involvement to completely reintroduce SMU's brand identity to the campus and the large higher ed community.
We conducted extensive surveys and interviews of over one hundred members of the student body, administration, and staff, asking them what SMU's brand identity meant to them. We gathered a range of feedback and broke it down into three main categories: past, present, and future. What has SMU's brand been historically (for better or worse), what SMU's brand is and represents in a contemporary sense, and finally, what SMU's brand aspires to be into the future.
With all of this, we set out to reestablish SMU as a research powerhouse with a clean, modern visual identity.
The Challenge
The organization needed to modernize its brand while maintaining recognition among its existing audience.
Key challenges included:
- Balancing tradition with innovation.
- Creating a recognizable, scalable design language across all forms of media.
- Ensuring accessibility across all touchpoints.
- Differentiating from competing institutions during a difficult time for higher education (decreased enrollment and transfers).
Research & discovery
We conducted comprehensive user research including:
- Surveys: Surveyed over 150 members of the campus community to understand brand perception.
- Competitive analysis: Evaluated 20+ universities in higher education.
- User interviews: Interviewed over 25 community members.
- Brand workshops: Collaborative sessions with leadership teams across entire marketing department.
The solution
We designed and developed a comprehensive branding site that could be used by all sectors of the campus community to establish guidelines on font, color usage, imagery, and language.
We created a site that showcased SMU's Bold, Curious, and Creative, pillars, and acts as a hub for all things SMU branding.
Accessibility was an important factor over the entire course of this project and we ensured that all design work met WCAG AAA standards as specified by the W3C.
Results & impact
The rebrand launch exceeded expectations across all key metrics:
Key learnings
This project reinforced several important principles:
- Early stakeholder involvement leads to stronger buy-in and better outcomes.
- Flexibility in design systems enables long-term scalability.
- User research should inform every stage of the design process.
- Accessibility is an important consideration that strengthens the overall design.
