Abstract
Abstract Contrary to earlier research on why universities change their visual identities from traditional to more abstract ones, resting on a demand-side approach, we offer an explanation based on a supply-side approach. We argue that universities’ change of visual identities toward abstract symbols reflects a professional logic shared by graphic designers and discuss the mechanisms and institutional agents that have fueled the professional project of graphic designers and the institutionalization of their professional logic. Simultaneously, we make visible the role of a professional group—the graphic designers—that have escaped the gaze of earlier organizational research.
Highlights
Research on how and why universities change their visual identities has shown an almost global transition from emblem to logo style; from figurative, distinct, and traditional symbols to more abstract, general, and modern ones (Drori, Delmestri and Oberg 2013, 2016; Delmestri, Oberg and Drori 2015)
Suddaby and Viale have not distinguished between different types of agents and their roles and as such their legitimacy, which are of significance to understand the degree to which professional projects become institutionalized. By combining these two analytical frameworks for studying professional agency, we argue that universities’ change of visual identities toward the logo style largely reflects a strongly institutionalized professional logic shared by graphic designers
The logo standard Rand wrote several books on graphic design, including the logo’s function and the requirements for a good logo. Because of his position and authoritative influence on the graphic design profession in general and those working with logo design in particular, we suggest that these requirements constitute a professional standard, which graphic designers should adhere to when designing organizational logos
Summary
Research on how and why universities change their visual identities has shown an almost global transition from emblem to (branded) logo style; from figurative, distinct, and traditional symbols to more abstract, general, and modern ones (Drori, Delmestri and Oberg 2013, 2016; Delmestri, Oberg and Drori 2015). The logo style is claimed to be a symbol of universities as formal organizations, and as such no different from any other organization (cf Krucken and Meier 2006), as well as marking the incorporation of universities into a globalized marketing culture and the brand society (Drori, Delmestri and Oberg 2013, 2016). Such a perception of the university is primarily rooted in what we denote as the demand-side; the universities request for external branding services as a competitive ‘tool’. We offer a supplementary explanation based on neoinstitutional theory and a supply-side approach emphasizing the significance of these experts and the dynamics between demand and supply (cf. Scott 2008b)
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