Guild announces rebrand
Editor-in-Chief, Amelié Thompson, reports on the rebrand of the Students’ Guild.
Throughout 2022 and 2023, Exeter’s Students’ Guild has developed a rebrand to align more closely with their values. Doing away with the old back-and-white logo and “old-fashioned, corporate, and confusing” branding, the Guild hopes this will play a part in engaging more students with their work.
Outgoing Guild President, Lily Margaroli, upheld that “Our value of putting students at the centre of everything that we do has very much shone through in this process.” Surveys and focus groups were employed by the Guild throughout the process, in an attempt to make the rebrand outcome as student-centric and student-favoured as possible.
To accompany the new logo and visual identity, the Guild is working to improve accessibility for students, so that they can get the most out of their university experience. The Guild says “We concluded that solely rebranding would do little more than sticking a very good-looking plaster over fundamental issues that exist with how we engage students.” New accessibility measures will see a change in Guild processes and engagement points, with the intention that students can feel like they are interacting with a transformed organisation.
New accessibility measures will see a change in Guild processes and engagement points, with the intention that students can feel like they are interacting with a transformed organisation.
The rebrand will not only change the design and online presence of the Guild but there will be improvements made to the Guild space on campus. The area “will be more flexible and accessible, with floor space for societies and groups to use. Social study space will be improved, and our Advice Team will be moving into the building to create a unified hub of Guild services for all students”, the Guild explains.
However, the rebrand has mostly been met with ambivalence from students. There has been general wonder over the choice of logo colour being orange, when “we are green”, reflecting how green remains the widely-recognised University of Exeter colour.
Though the Guild aims to prevent a sticking-plaster solution, some students continue to raise other issues surrounding Guild activity. One student argues that “it’s typical [that] whilst their payment services and election systems aren’t working they focus on this”.
Though the Guild aims to prevent a sticking-plaster solution, some students continue to raise other issues surrounding Guild activity.
Students also voice the same concerns that arose during the university’s rebrand last year, as there is speculation over whether the Guild’s funds and resources could be better spent elsewhere. “I think it’s a waste of money that could go towards rallying the university for better teacher support so that students can get the full experience that they pay for,” expresses one student.
The Guild states that they are “on track to spend £70k across two years on [the] rebrand, with £45k spent in year one and £25k budgeted for next year (23/24).” The money was requested as part of the Guild’s five-year strategic plan which was presented to the University as part of the block grant increase. Costs were minimised as the Guild was able to conduct a majority of the work through the Marketing and Branding Team.
In the upcoming months, the Guild plans to announce how they intend to communicate and engage with students through their rebrand framework. With work underway, students should expect a new Guild space in Devonshire House once the term begins in Autumn.
