Details
Putting my graphic design skills to use, I set about creating a unique brand identity for the Business Society of Liverpool Hope University. Having researched options to create a simplistic icon which represents business as a subject, I found that such an icon would not be instantly recognisable as a logo of the LHU Business Society. Therefore, I opted instead to create a completely new icon.
After much deliberation I concluded that, although I was creating a logo from scratch, I would take inspiration from LHU's own brand identity – taking care not to alienate the society from the university in terms of branding. In 2016/17, LHU began using its coat of arms as its sole corporate logo, emphasising its "brand heritage," a stance I wished to mirror in my design of a logo and brand identity. LHU's corporate colour is red and its coat of arms includes a white Star of Bethlehem in the corner of the shield, a design feature which was also present in the previous logo designed by Fabrik in 2006. For the 175th anniversary of the university in 2019, the logo was displayed with the legend, "175 years of academic excellence," with "175" in gold to reflect a TEF Gold rating for Teaching Excellence achieved two years earlier.
After researching heraldry to aid my emulation of brand heritage, I incorporated a stylised red variant of the Star of Bethlehem (red for LHU's corporate colour) at the tip of a gold sword (gold for LHU's TEF Gold rating), and while LHU's corporate colours are mainly red and white – I instead opted for red and black, keeping the red for its association with LHU but distinguishing the society by using black. The logo and brand identity debuted on 25th October 2023, and the brand identity also included design features such as a wavy line surrounding the logo for the River Mersey (representing the university's location), and red & gold stripes on a background of black to symbolise a tie which could be worn in the world of business.