A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of working with design and communications professionals at the 2007 University & College Designers Association International Conference in Toronto. To open the conference, I facilitated a three hour session on branding with designers and communicators representing colleges and universities from throughout Canada and the United States.
The focus of our dialog was on assessing how effective schools are in communicating their institution's mission, vision, values and goals, and how closely aligned the school's visual identities are with their verbal identities. As you might suspect, findings ranged from close alignment in some cases, to significant gaps in others. We found that most schools do an effective job of integrating their marketing communications, but that mission, vision, values and goals are under utilized as guides for visual communications. We also found that most schools lack a consistent verbal identity.
I want to thank those who participated. It was a great experience for all of us. Because much of my work is centered on helping organizations develop their verbal identities, it was an important reminder for me the role visual communications plays for developing a holistic brand. I hope I was able to do the same in helping visual communicators understand the critical role verbal communications plays, and that all communications should be driven by our core values.
