You may not have noticed, but the University of Alberta has quietly changed its logo. The changes in the "shield" and "wordmark" are subtle, but they're there: compare the new one (top image) to the old one (bottom 
image). Without any fanfare, the new logo appeared on the UofA home page on March 7, 2011 (heh, they even remembered to change the l'il favicon, too). This change came after a staggering 100,000 people (me included) participated in research to evaluate the new visual identity.
It's odd that there was no big press conference about this. I don't think it's because they're not proud of the new art scheme, but rather because they don't want to draw attention to the old one. I mean, lookit it! It's got Times Roman font--yuk! That's almost as ubiquitous as Helvetica. Times Roman is so, you know, authoritative (maybe even authoritarian). And you don't want a university looking too, like, authoritative or whatever.
So, why the change? Rumour is that some people thought the old logo was too stodgy for university-choosing kids coming to the UofA homepage; it should be updated to be more distinctive on the web. But hold on, who starts by going to homepages anymore? And what about all the existing (old-logo) letterhead? (We're assured that it won't be thrown out, but used up and then replaced with the new design.) OK, but there are also a lot of electronic documents that will have to be updated.
I'm not opposed to change, as long as there's a good reason for it. But I didn't see a pressing need for change here. On the one hand, the logo (which has been around for ages--anyone know how long?) is being changed (sorry, "refreshed"). On the other hand, administration is going back to 1908 and promoting Henry Marshall Tory's assertion that, for the University of Alberta, "The uplifting of the whole people shall be its final goal."
I thought we were in the middle of a budget crisis. Why go to all this trouble and expense? This doesn't look like belt-tightening, it looks like a way to spend a bunch of extra dollars. Will this attract significant numbers of new students, who otherwise would have presumably gone to Waterloo because of its spiffy new logo?
What do you think? Is the new logo sufficiently kewl? Is it not kewl (or different) enough? Did you even notice?
Why aren't you studying?
The New Logo
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I can't say I noticed the logo change. I did notice that the ualberta page changed its color scheme at one point, so that probably distracted me enough from ever noticing the logo change.
The only thing I ever notice on the ualberta homepage is the chosen 'people of the day' (that c hange every time I refresh) that stare back at me while I am boredly waiting for eclass/webmail/beartracks to load...
I agree, seemingly unnecessary!
@Anon (6:28): See!? They changed the colours so you wouldn't notice anything else changing! Tricky...
Perambulating about campus today, I noticed a lot of very nice signs--that will all have to be changed to be in line with the new visual style. Like the spiffy new one at the far northwest end of campus. (Wonder how much that cost?) Either it will have to be ripped down and replaced, or it will stick out as an example of the "old style."
@Anon (6:57): Good that someone visits the homepage. I can't remember the last time I went there for anything.
I noticed because the UofA homepage is my browser homepage so it's the first thing I see everytime I open the interwebz. I actually liked the old logo better, it looked a lot more sophisticated. I don't see why the university needs to concern itself with looking "kewl", I don't think it will attract more students, and I think it was a waste of money.
Also, what's with the Times Roman hate? I feel like I need to get you this button: http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_570xN.195333355.jpg
So silly and unnecessary.
Wow, is this really an issue? O.o If only people were this passionate about the elections...
On another note, I've bookmarked the UofA homepage because I find it easier than having several UofA bookmarks (for eclass, library, bookstore, caps, etc).