{"id":23453,"date":"2019-01-28T16:47:18","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T22:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/?p=23453"},"modified":"2019-01-28T16:47:18","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T22:47:18","slug":"redefining-imsa-with-the-globe-logo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/2019\/01\/28\/redefining-imsa-with-the-globe-logo\/","title":{"rendered":"Redefining IMSA with “The Globe” Logo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, IMSA\u2019s new logo sparked some confusion among IMSA community members.  The new logo was the final product of a two-year effort to realign IMSA\u2019s brand with its original charter and evolving mission statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tami Armstrong<\/b>, Executive Director of Public Affairs, explained that the new logo is an attempt to differentiate IMSA from its competition. Thirty years ago, the State of Illinois issued two charters for IMSA\u2019s founding. The first charter enabled the creation of a school for talented, STEM students. The other, lesser-known charter aimed to spread IMSA\u2019s inquiry-based curriculum to schools across Illinois.<\/span><\/p>\n

Armstrong theorized that the reduction in IMSA’s applicant pool over the last 5-10 years was partially due to the school’s failure to express its institutional values in its branding. \u201cWe have amazing courses. We have amazing facilities, like IN2 and the B-wing. We have amazing faculty because more than 50% have PhDs\u2026 The question is, how can you distill that into a very clear message\u2026to help us stand out?\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

To better convey IMSA\u2019s values, the school administration sought a partnership with a local firm to expand its outreach. IMSA contacted 6,000 alumni, asking them to evaluate their IMSA experiences. It received a total of 1,700 responses, most of which were positive. \u201cIMSA opened up my world to new ways of thinking, to different kinds of people, to different cultures,\u201d one comment reads. “Groundbreaking,” says another. <\/span><\/p>\n

The next stage of research featured focus groups with students, teachers, and faculty. Through small-group discussion, administrators gained a better understanding of the IMSA community\u2019s perspective of the school: an institution that challenges students academically and launches global leaders. Once they affirmed the message, they evaluated the effectiveness of the current logo. <\/span><\/p>\n

The original documentation of IMSA\u2019s former \u201cstaircase\u201d logo states that the logo aimed to convey the \u201cnature of the learning environment\u201d through a \u201chigh-tech\u201d and \u201cbold\u201d design. Possible interpretations of the logo include the journey of progressing towards a goal, the multiple steps of the education process, and the three years of study at IMSA. However, the representation of IMSA\u2019s center of teaching and learning (PFS) was missing. Additionally, the modernistic intent of the original font had decayed over time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The new logo aims to encapsulate IMSA’s global leadership by modeling off of the globe itself. The two halves of the image represent the school\u2019s two charters: education and outreach. Lastly, the three white streaks within the two halves pay tribute to the former staircase logo. (\u201cLegacy stairsteps,\u201d Armstrong noted). Armstrong also pointed out that the shape implies \u201csynergy between parts\u201d and \u201cmovement,\u201d therefore reflecting IMSA\u2019s focus on connectivity and innovation. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, IMSA hopes that the new logo will aid it in future outreach efforts, as it sets its sights beyond the state of Illinois. Under the new IMSA Law, it aims to admit students internationally by 2022. Already, IMSA is extending its outreach to mainland China and Taiwan in an effort to engage educators and students around the world. Whether current IMSA community members prefer to view the logo as a cell undergoing mitosis, a hamster ball, or the \u201cWorldwide Onion,\u201d it\u2019s a rebranding for the school that will hopefully accompany even larger changes for the students.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, IMSA\u2019s new logo sparked some confusion among IMSA community members.  The new logo was the final product of a two-year effort to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":374,"featured_media":23461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1019,2724],"tags":[3064,2906,3061],"coauthors":[2749,2747],"class_list":["post-23453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-imsanews","category-news","tag-branding","tag-imsa-law","tag-logo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/374"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23453"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23486,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23453\/revisions\/23486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23453"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=23453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}