How We Got Here
The process that has enabled us to reach this milestone has been thorough, well considered, and, we hope, rewarding for all of those who have joined in it. It began with a small working group centered in the Office of Marketing and Communications and has grown to include dozens of members of the University community. We thank you all.
A Summary Timeline
Request for Proposals
Vendor Selection
Project Kickoffs
Research/Discovery
Design Development
Design Review/Approval
Design Refinement/Rollout Planning
Request for Proposals—September and October 2007
Formal Request for Proposal document developed and sent to six graphic design firms selected on the basis of their expertise in identity design and professional recommendations.
Vendor Selection—December 2007
Initial working group—former Vice President for Marketing and Communications Brian Kenny, Director of Creative Services John Ombelets, Art Director Bruce Ployer, Senior Graphic Designer Pamela Rodriguez, and Associate Professor of Art + Design Thomas Starr—reviews proposals and chooses three finalists to make presentations.
Korn Design of Boston and New York is selected as the winning design firm.
Project Kickoff—January 2008
Working group and Korn team—Founder Denise Korn, principal and project manager Javier Cortés, and senior designers Bryant Ross and Ian Koenig—meet to set the project parameters and agree on process.
Research/Discovery—February through May 2008
The Korn team reviews hundreds of logos—of universities in the United States and abroad, of worldwide cultural institutions, of fashion brands, and popular brands—and delves into the history of Northeastern’s graphic identifiers.
Korn also conducts interviews with a cross-section of the University community—with senior leadership, academic deans, faculty representatives, and students—to discover their opinions of the current logo, and to learn what qualities they wished to see reflected in the new identity.
In May, the working group, joined by Senior Vice President for Executive Affairs Mark Putnam and Director of Communications Frederick McGrail accepted Korn’s report on the results of the research and discovery process.
Design Development—March through May 2008
Korn undertakes design development, exploring multiple options for logotype.
Design Review/Approval—May and June 2008
The Korn team presents four design options to members of Northeastern’s senior leadership. Three rounds of design review culminate in President Joseph E. Aoun’s final approval of the design on June 26, 2008.
Design Refinement/Rollout Planning—July and August 2008
Korn oversees design refinements and development of proprietary typeface for the graphic identity. Marketing and Communications and Korn collaborate on rollout planning and preview presentations of the new graphic identity to other members of the senior staff and deans.