UW logo woes continue, institutional culture roles along
The new UW logo continues to create a stir with the request for feedback on the new logo and a couple alternatives. Pretty much immediately after the request went out UW Opinion was lit up with a range of colourful commentary, some useful suggestions, and some posts that are way out to lunch.
With regards to the new logos I don’t have much to offer about any specific design but I still think the staff at UW could do way better. I don’t think they will though as the process is broken (something I mentioned in my post back in July). A post by Sanjay on UW Opinion touches on it as well.
I think a big part of the problem with the logo boils down to an organizational cultural one that speaks to how people value art, communications, and design in this community. Over the years working at UW I have had a chance to work with many talented designers that have been treated as contract staff that are to simply create exactly what they are told. They aren’t seen as authoritative talent that was hired to handle ‘how things look.’
Usually what happens to the designer is they are forced to use bad photos, odd fonts, colours, and layouts as dictated by the client when they know they don’t work together. What it comes down to in design consultant terms, staff groups at UW are the nightmare client that you can’t get away from because it is your full-time job. They aren’t allowed to do what they are hired to do…. and yes, I said staff groups at UW are nightmare clients. I have been on both sides of it and I don’t think people do it intentionally but I do think people in general do not value the skills and expertise of others—particularly design talent.
It is likely that a lot of other higher ed institutions suffer from this organizational culture issue.
What I would ask from the leadership in higher ed in general is to let professionals do their jobs, don’t let them step outside their roles and step on the jobs of others, and understand good design can not be done on the cheap. Otherwise you will have burned out staff that feel overworked and under appreciated—the type of people that shut off and loose the passion for their work.
I should add… a lot innovation, personal growth, and good experience comes when people step outside their defined roles. My point is that people should be challenged to step outside their roles in a more strategic way. It should not just be normal that an admin assistant takes on a co-ordinator role for the admin assistant pay or worse take on the role of a co-ordinator that is already trying to fulfill that role.