As a new academic year begins, Washington University in St. Louis is unveiling a new visual identity and an enhanced effort to communicate its important contributions in the areas of education, research and patient care to key internal and external audiences. The update includes a new university logo and website and the official adoption of the widely used, shortened version of the university’s name, “WashU.” The primary goal of the initiative is to raise awareness about WashU and to share the story of the people and programs that make the university world-class and distinctive.
“WashU has a proud history and a strong reputation as a top university, but we definitely fly under the radar relative to some of the institutions we consider to be our academic peers,” Chancellor Andrew D. Martin said. “Members of the WashU community — students, faculty, staff and alumni — are impacting the world daily, often in ways that are imperceptible to the public. We have an opportunity and an obligation to tell these stories in new ways and to the right audiences, to share with the world what WashU is and what we can do.”
The most immediate and noticeable change will be to the university’s visual identity. Starting today, the university is updating its primary logo from “Washington University in St. Louis” to “WashU,” accompanied by an updated and modernized university shield. This change will appear on the new washu.edu website, in the logos of each of WashU’s eight schools, on campus signage and merchandise, and in many other places. In many respects, the change represents an embrace of a name that is already familiar and highly regarded among many.
“Within our own community and among those who know us best, we’ve been ‘WashU’ for a long time,” said Julie Hail Flory, vice chancellor for marketing and communications. “One of the limiting factors in broad-based awareness of the university is that there are many institutions with a similar name, which creates confusion about who — and where — we are. But while there are many ‘Washingtons,’ there is only one ‘WashU.’ This update allows us to lean into who we are and what distinguishes us from our academic peers.”
As part of its ongoing effort to tell its story more broadly, the university will spotlight WashU’s people, ideas and achievements while emphasizing aspects of the university that are distinctive within higher education. A storytelling campaign organized around the theme of “This Is What WashU Can Do” will build a collection of vignettes that showcase student, faculty and alumni-led work that is advancing education, research and patient care. The vignettes utilize written and multimedia content to demonstrate WashU’s impact on the world and its unique approach to building community on campus and beyond.
“If you know WashU, you know there’s something unique about our culture — an uncommon mixture of creativity, advocacy, rigor and empathy — that makes our work stronger and more impactful,” Martin said. “WashU people are energized by possibilities and work together generously to get things done. I believe WashU is the most collaborative place to study and work in higher education, and I’d like us to be known not just for what we accomplish, but also how we accomplish it.”
The update is the result of a collaborative, multiyear process led by University Marketing & Communications in partnership with schools and units across the university, informed by conversations with key internal and external stakeholders, and with strong support from Martin, Provost Beverly Wendland, the deans of all eight schools, and a Board of Trustees-led task force.
“It was extremely important that this process was strategic and inclusive,” Flory said. “From day one, we enlisted the help of university leadership and our colleagues across WashU to make sure a wide range of voices were heard and that we had strong support for the new direction for WashU. It has been a team effort and we’re proud to be able to share the results with our campus community, the St. Louis region, our alumni and friends, and, importantly, to introduce WashU to new audiences and show them what makes it such an amazing place.”
A full transition to the new visual identity will likely take two to three years and in certain physical spaces the full, formal name of the university will remain for posterity. University websites are switching over to the washu.edu domain now, and university email accounts will be updated to washu.edu over time.
“WashU is a complex organization. It’s important that we’re responsible stewards of university resources, and that this update causes as little disruption to campus operations as possible,” said Mike Bulthaus, associate vice chancellor for university marketing. “Our longer timeline means we’ll be living in a ‘mixed-brand’ environment for the short-term future, but this will allow us to prioritize sustainability, tap into existing budgets and give our schools and departments adequate time to update their materials. It won’t be long before everything is ‘WashU,’ and we know it’ll be worth the wait.”
More information about the update, including an FAQ, is available on the new University Marketing & Communications website.
