SLU is losing it's Catholic Identity

[SilverSeminarian]

This is very sad and disturbing. SLU unveiled it's new logo on Friday. What it shows is that it is no longer a Catholic university. It leaves off St. Ignatius' crest as well as the Jesuit slogan "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam" (For the greater glory of God). Do any of you have thoughts about it?

(retrieved from: http://www.slu.edu/Images/viewer/SLU_Reveal_670x300.jpg)     

[Gabriela]

I wonder if this has anything to do with the President's statement in court that SLU is not a Catholic university, but a Jesuit university. People went nuts over that. It was a very "jesuitical" way of arguing that they couldn't be sued for whatever because they weren't Catholic.

In general, though, I think it's pretty clear that this is bad.

[PhuturePriest]

The sad fact is the large majority of Jesuit universities need to be shut down and the Order itself given a major investigation followed by huge reform. The Society of Jesus is by far the most heresy-ridden Order still standing, and it unfortunately has huge influence. 

[truthfinder]

Well, to play a bit of the devil's advocate, it's certainly a cleaner looking graphic, which still has a cross and a fleur-de-lys, which can also be a Catholic symbol.  The possible problem with the original is that it's small and complex.  Rendering it correctly for both webpages as well as colour print outs is probably far more difficult.  They changed my school's crest in order to accommodate for the realities of communication in the digital world.  That being said, they could have tried to have been a bit more overtly Catholic.  

[blazeingstar]

As someone who worked in a college...honestly the tiny little logos with a ton of writing are IMPOSSIBLE.  They're huge graphics hogs and impossible to print on "branded items" nicely.  Also, notice that bottom logo has atleast 4 distinct colors that I can count, while the above has one. Print media is disappearing and the ability to cheaply print extensive logos is waining, not getting better with technology.  Many printers are just going out of business.  And colleges with their acceptance letters, diplomas, and billing statements are just really paper-driven.  It's expensive.  Just a point for explanation.  A retail of $39.99 college hoodie costs $22 for the hoodie, and $2.50 per color.  A single color logo, with background, therefore is a $27 cost.  Yeah, there's an exorbitant mark up, but so is all clothing.  With 4-5 colors a hoodie is more likely to be $49 or even $55.  With more colors, come more errors and depending on the size of the logo, detail is lost.

 

What the old logo looks like is more appropriate for a college seal.

[Gabriela]

Okay, you typographic geeks make some really good points. But why get rid of the motto?

[blazeingstar]

Okay, you typographic geeks make some really good points. But why get rid of the motto?

Last time I heard strictly speaking logos are supposed to contain zero to 12 characters.   The words already push the limits.  A good logo also should be able to be printed at 2 inches high can be read at a distance. It should also be able to be easily re-created by memory.  There's a real push for simpler logos on banners, too.  I mean thing of those 4 foot pole banners that you often see around town for "street cleaning sponsored by" sort of deals.  Complicated logos end up looking like blobs and words are distracting.

The previous logo is an excellent seal.  If a seal is needed for a banner, graduation or other important event, it can be rendered in a much more expensive way.