CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) – The University of Illinois has made its logo upgrade official.Â
U of I leaders say the athletic department's "Block I" logo will now represent the entire Champaign-Urbana campus. It replaces a column logo that academic sectors have been using since 1997.
Campus officials say they want a more unified image, giving the brand a wider outreach. At one point, the U of I system used more than 800 logos.Â
"Ultimately, this is just the first step in our effort to harness the power of the Illinois brand," said U of I Chancellor Robert J. Jones. "(It's) work that will have tangible implications for our fundraising efforts, faculty and student recruitment, corporate support, research funding and our overall reputation."Â
A marketing advisory council played a key role in building the new design, addressing concerns from the campus community along the way. Colleges within the university will start using the new logo right away.
"I'm especially proud that while many of our peers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on visual identity projects, our communications professionals on campus have led this effort completely in-house," said Jones. "This savings will allow us to invest resources in additional efforts to tell our Illinois story in significant and impactful ways."Â
The school previously tried to rebrand itself in 2015 with the help of public relations consultants, but scrapped the project because of university budget issues.Â
