By Nicole Gismondo:
There is, from the perspective of the outside observer, a certain appeal to the rebranding of the University of Western Sydney to Western Sydney University. From that outside perspective it is a university that embraces its demographic and provides a fairly solid education. There is no doubt that the Deng Adut ad is inspirational and a huge success. BUT when you walk into the walls of red at the start of your degree you start to notice the cracks that have persisted.
RED. Every single piece of university approved information must be red. Every single piece of marketing material has one of the same black and white sterile approved photos. Every single club logo, university service promotion, and general piece of university sponsored information, in the same boring stylised design.
How on earth is a student supposed to sort through all the RED? I’ve seen the marketing brief, I know there are other colours on offer, but it seems that the university is now scared of using them.
But how does this affect services? Simple, students ignore information given to them. There is no way when there is such a limited variation in different promotions, that a student will not dismiss the advertising for say, Counselling, which they might really need, because it looks exactly the same as the poster for University Sport.
There’s a hidden problem too: Many university services do not even have re-branded promotional materials at all. This is more than 6 months into the rebrand!
This is the inside toll of the rebrand: It is bland, hard to navigate, and completely unimaginative. We, the students, are incrementally losing interest, and it’s all in the name of attracting more students.
Nicole Gismondo
Cruwsible Editor
Clubs Representative | Women’s Officer | Parramatta SCC
President | Western Sydney Women’s Collective
Competitions Officer | Western Sydney Debating Union
