A shield with a wide base containing four lions facing out (passant gardant) and one facing sideways (rampant). Very symmetrical shield with the charges in quadrants, and the middle. Not a huge amount of variation and pretty densely packed in. The founding date is also included. The strong outlines and colours make it a bold and striking crest, though it appears crowded when seen smaller.

Typography

Uppercase Perpetua is used for the bi-lingual text, the welsh for University, prifysgol, centred above a widely spaced ‘Bangor’. The whole wordmark echoes the strong central axis of the shield. The effect of the wide spacing is to create quite a light feel to the mark despite it all being in uppercase. There’s been no desire to introduce any fancy flourishes or ornamentation, which probably sits well with the aim to achieve a fairly neutral gravitas.

The specification of the more obviously modern typefaces, Arial, Verdana and DIN in the guidelines obviously seeks to provide the necessary impetus and dynamic feel. The bold straplines and large type of some example campaigns in the guidelines contrasts with the underlying tradition hinted at by the crest.

Variety through colour

The University has a strong collegiate structure and they are given lots of latitude with colour on the websites, which seems to be echoed in the brand guidelines. The blend of strong modern faces with the steady crest is deemed to be able to tie different colour themed identities together. Online it seems to work quiet well with a restricted monochrome logo, where the text is left aligned to next to the logo to save space.

Summary

Overall a light, if a little safe, touch applied to a strongly heraldic shield which has given Bangor the ability to use it as almost a thumbprint of identity whilst the rest of the campaigns can be much more forceful and confident.

Tagged : Welsh , Crest , Brand Guidelines , Shield , Yellow , Uppercase , Red , Bi-lingual

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