Kamehameha Day, described as “the Hawaiian equivalent of Cinco de Mayo”, will be celebrated on Nantucket Island, according to a story in The Nantucket Independent.
The Star-Bulletin’s story on the University of Hawaii’s adoption of a new logo caught my eye a couple of weeks ago. Well, I suppose you would have to call it a soft adoption, since it doesn’t actually replace the traditional UH logo. The S-B reported the original version will still be used for official documents.
So why the new version?
Ernst said the “intricate” design of the traditional seal was sometimes difficult to reproduce on Web sites with some printers and on embroidered merchandise.
Problems displaying the logo on web sites? That doesn’t seem likely, and there are a lot more complicated graphics displayed without problem. So it appears the new design was really driven by the printing problems of certain manufacturers of branded merchandise. And, since there have been products with the logo, this probably boils down to a question of shaving a few pennies off the production costs.
The problem is that in the translation, the UH dropped its symbolic Pacific location in favor of a homogenized hint of a globe that looks, well, incredibly bland. The Star-Bulletin displayed the old and new designs side by side.
What kind of input did the UH administration get as they were preparing this new look? According to the story, they vividly recalled that Evan Dobelle caught hell from the public when he tried a high-profile search for a new logo, and another competition between a handful of local firms was quietly abandoned.
So this time around was the public and the larger campus community just left out? That’s how it sounds.
So, Ernst said UH started to update the design last year in conjunction with the centennial. The new design and a manual governing the usage of the seal were reviewed by the Council of Chancellors and approved by UH President David McClain.
Worried about negative feedback? Don’t ask the question. At least that’s apparently the lesson learned in Manoa.
It was cloudy in Kaaawa yesterday morning, although we didn’t have to actually open our umbrellas. But, once again, the clouds added to the spectacular view towards Kaaawa valley and on towards Kaneohe. Just click for a larger version of this photo.
The “new” logo is cleaner looking and will look good on clothing. I don’t care for either one.
The new logo is more distinctive – better contrast – and will definitely be more effective and visible for embroidery and printing. That said, they are pretty different. They even changed the font family used. Nevertheless, doing a new logo design is one thing – implementing it is entirely different. Sounds like they didn’t put a lot of thought into the ‘change management’ piece.