[Vision2020] [CORRECTED] Save The Starburst
Tom Hansen
thansen at moscow.com
Sat Nov 18 15:41:59 PST 2006
I always thought that the design was meant to resemble a Syringa, the state
flower, seeing how the logo was "born" in the 1970's.
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving
safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in
sideways, chocolate in one hand, a drink in the other, body thoroughly used
up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO. What a ride!'"
-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Scott Dredge
Sent: Saturday, November 18, 2006 3:18 PM
To: Vision 2020
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] [CORRECTED] Save The Starburst
I always thought it was a sprocket. I would have never guessed a starburst.
Can we change it to "Save the Sprocket"?
-Scott
----- Original Message ----
From: Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com>
To: Vision 2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 18, 2006 11:48:36 AM
Subject: [Vision2020] [CORRECTED] Save The Starburst
Save the UI starburst logo.
http://www.savethestarburst.com
Came a tribe from the north brave and bold . . .
Seeya round town, Moscow.
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
"Here We Have Idaho"
http://www.tomandrodna.com/HWHI.mp3
"I-D-A-H-O Idaho Idaho Go Go Go"
http://www.tomandrodna.com/Vandals.mp3
-----Original Message-----
From: vandal-admin at uidaho.edu [mailto:vandal-admin at uidaho.edu] On Behalf Of
Phil Corless
Sent: Saturday, November 18, 2006 11:04 AM
To: vandal at uidaho.edu
Subject: [Vandal]Save The Starburst
Students protest demise of "daisy" logo at University of Idaho
by Jesse Harlan Alderman, Associated Press
To some, it's a groovy throwback to the sunny seventies. To others a
textbook example of symmetrical design. But to most, it's the instantly
recognizable symbol of the University of Idaho.
The school's "daisy" or "starburst" logo, an interlocking circle of five
large yellow "Us" linked by small "Is," as in "UI," or University of Idaho,
will soon start disappearing from the Moscow campus as part of an
aggressive new marketing campaign.
It's been erased from university letterhead and will eventually be painted
over on the large mural outside the Kibbie Dome, the school's indoor
football arena.
The starburst icon light fixtures in the Student Union will stay, for now,
but the relic of the "old" University of Idaho is being phased out, a
casualty of a Madison Avenue-meets-Moscow image makeover.
Jonathan Gaffney, a University of Idaho senior who spearheaded a "Save the
Starburst" campaign said most students bristle at the school's new
promotional materials showing photographs of hikers on mountain tops and
Birkenstock-wearing professors.
Selling the University of Idaho's prairie setting as a Rocky Mountain
paradise is "awkward," Gaffney said, but his beef is with the school's
decision to scrap the 36-year-old starburst.
"It's the one thing that screams U of I," he said. "It's a reminder of the
U of I as a whole to so many people - of the four or five years you spent
here, these great college years. It's nostalgic."
As of Thursday, more than 488 students, alumni and faculty members had
signed Gaffney's online petition. He will present it to the school's
president once he gets 500 signatures.
Gaffney is amazed how many students have signed the petition on the campus
that is annually rated among the least politically active in the country by
The Princeton Review.
"We don't have protests or anything like that," he said. "This isn't
something that usually happens here. Just having a petition is unusual in
the first place and then the fact that it's gotten this response."
The icon goes by many names - starburst, sunburst, daisy, snowflake and in
Generation Y lingo, "that U of I circle thing."
The logo first appeared on the school's 1970-71 staff directory,
supplementing the traditional "Lady of Knowledge" seal of a woman stroking
a harp and looking onto fields of grain, said university archivist Nathan
Bender.
In the 36 years since its first appearance, the school has splattered the
icon across the campus, if not the state, on billboards, classroom trash
cans and tuition bills.
Sandra Haarsager, a University of Idaho professor of journalism and mass
media, said the school is wrong to completely erase the type of immediately
recognizable trademark that most colleges and corporations spend millions
of dollars trying to invent.
"There is a real value in the kind of corporate identity we have with the
starburst," she said.
A new logo could take years to catch on, Haarsager said. While some schools
are easily identified by their mascot, very few people associate the
Vandal, a bushy bearded Viking, with Idaho.
But the marketers counter that the starburst has turned stale. The school
is reeling from a 6 percent dip in enrollment, budget cuts and a scandal
over a botched land deal in Boise. It needs a symbol that is modern, not
retro, said Wendy Shattuck, the assistant vice president for marketing and
strategic communications.
The new ad campaign, which also changes the old university slogan "From
Here You Can Go Anywhere" to "Open Spaces. Open Minds," uses bold font
types that don't match the 1970s print of the UI starburst.
"It was looking its age, yeah," Shattuck said. "We're also moving away from
referring to ourselves as UI. That could be Iowa, Illinois, Indiana - we're
trying to stop abbreviating ourselves."
Tara Roberts, editor in chief of the university newspaper, The Argonaut,
thinks the marketing team miscalculated the pulse of the students.
A hip-hop version of the university fight song that school officials made
available for download as a cell phone ringtone became a particular campus
laughing stock, Roberts said.
"This schizophrenia has left people wondering what UI is trying to be
during its mid-life crisis," Roberts wrote in a recent editorial. She said
the school should spend money on keeping students happy and updating
academic programs; not on the fickle tinkerings of marketing.
"It's funny, this branding campaign is trying to make us look more iconic,
but it's taking away the most recognizable icon to three generations of
students," she said. "It seems like such a trendy thing."
---
On the Net: http://www.savethestarburst.com
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