CATEGORY:
BRAND REFRESH,
365° CAMPAIGN,
VIDEO,
ENVIRONMENTALS,
MERCHANDISE &
SUB-BRANDS
YEAR:
2022-24
AGENCY:
160over90
THE GIST OF IT:
Colorado State University is a land-grant university located in Fort Collins, however, it’s not the first school that people think of as the “Colorado school.” CSU wanted a complete brand refresh to increase the college's presence in Colorado and beyond. With goals of reaching rural students and earning a Hispanic-Serving Institution designation, this comprehensive rebrand is ushering in a new era of Colorado State, one that sees the unrealized potential and celebrates it.
There’s a certain feeling you get when you step foot in Colorado. You are awestruck. At Colorado State, that awe inspires the actions of each and every student, faculty, staff, and alum. It’s the feeling of anticipation, possibility, and energy. And it’s a feeling you don’t get anywhere else.
Using the hero line “Find Your Energy,” the brand focuses on a vibrant and personal approach in creating a visual system. New bright secondary colors, fresh typography, expressive textures, and clean collage-inspired layouts combine to create visuals illustrating the unique frequency that only those at CSU know.
Environmental graphics, merchandise, social campaigns, video and more were developed to bring this brand to life across Colorado. To support CSU’s attempt to gain the designation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, we worked hand-in-hand with partner company Interecho to transcreate our work into the Spanish language.
As a campus wide brand, there had to be enough graphic elements for the brand to not feel repetitive, but also streamlined use instructions. CSU's goal was to maintain brand cohesion, while allowing different departments, colleges, or units, but their own spin on the brand.
The Colorado State brand has to have the ability to be dialed up or down for use across campus. Whether it be a small campaign, medium-sized program, or larger school or college, the system had to work. Throughout our partnership with CSU, the new brand was piloted with several secondary projects, including an year two media refresh and an Online MBA program brand.
The Online MBA brand stands as a showcase of how other colleges and units can take the key elements of the CSU brand, and put their own twist on it. Inspired by how the online aspect of the CSU's online MBA intertwines itself into the student's life, the OMBA brand digitizes and stylizes the CSU brand into an ownable branch of the design system.
AWARDS
Gold &
Best in Show
Total Advertising Campaign, Educational Advertising Awards
Gold
for Find Your Energy Environmentals, Outdoor Transit/Airport/Subway - Series, Collegiate Advertising Awards
Gold
for Find Your Energy Print Ad Campaign, Magazine Ad - Series, Collegiate Advertising Awards