It is the first time it has been revised since 2007. Designed by Dean of the School of Visual Communication, Neville Brody and his consultancy, Research Studios, the identity retains the RCA royal crest and house typeface, Calvert – a nod to the College's prestigious history, while modernity and innovation are communicated through a left-aligned lock-up and use of the new Calvert-Brody font, first unveiled last September at the opening of the Dyson building in Battersea.
Research Studios has created a brand language featuring a structure that allows for flexibility, facilitating both pure corporate brand use and creative autonomy.
At the heart of the structure is the RCA brand lock-up, with unchanged elements including the crest, logotype and strapline, now assembled as a single object without variation, and a fixed colour palette, introducing an RCA blue and a metallic graphite.
The consultancy has also rationalised and restructured the typographic landscape, expanding the original Calvert font by 7 per cent to create a more open version, Calvert 107. The exclusively-designed Calvert-Brody typeface is a modern remix of Calvert – an 'expanded spectrum between classic proportions and characteristics, and an industrial stencil structure, allowing for application on paper, on screen, and in physical environments', according to Brody.
Among the reasons for the rebrand was a need to bring greater coherency to what had developed into a number of variations, used in disparate ways by College programmes, core College activities and student events.
And with its 175th anniversary now behind it, and new buildings at Battersea and a website overhaul in the pipeline, the College deemed 2013 an appropriate time to launch a revised identity and more coherent brand language.
'Our audience has changed, and will continue to evolve and grow as our strategy develops. It includes partners in the UK and overseas in industry, public sector and academia, students, staff and potential applicants, alumnus and media,' said Brody.
He added: 'The key to the success of the RCA brand is consistency. Through this, we can maintain quality in our conversations with the outside world, allowing us to speak with confidence and collegiality. With this, we can evolve, ensuring that the RCA continues to be the perfect place to grow.'
