As a new academic year begins, Washington University in St. Louis is unveiling a new visual identity and an enhanced effort to communicate its important contributions in the areas of education, research and patient care to key internal and external audiences. The update includes a new university logo and website and the official adoption of the widely used, shortened version of the university’s name, “WashU.” The primary goal of the initiative is to raise awareness about WashU and to share the story of the people and programs that make the university world-class and distinctive.
“WashU has a proud history and a strong reputation as a top university, but we definitely fly under the radar relative to some of the institutions we consider to be our academic peers,” Chancellor Andrew D. Martin said. “Members of the WashU community — students, faculty, staff and alumni — are impacting the world daily, often in ways that are imperceptible to the public. We have an opportunity and an obligation to tell these stories in new ways and to the right audiences, to share with the world what WashU is and what we can do.”
The most immediate and noticeable change will be to the university’s visual identity. Starting today, the university is updating its primary logo from “Washington University in St. Louis” to “WashU,” accompanied by an updated and modernized university shield. This change will appear on the new washu.edu website, in the logos of each of WashU’s eight schools, on campus signage and merchandise, and in many other places. In many respects, the change represents an embrace of a name that is already familiar and highly regarded among many.
“Within our own community and among those who know us best, we’ve been ‘WashU’ for a long time,” said Julie Hail Flory, vice chancellor for marketing and communications. “One of the limiting factors in broad-based awareness of the university is that there are many institutions with a similar name, which creates confusion about who — and where — we are. But while there are many ‘Washingtons,’ there is only one ‘WashU.’ This update allows us to lean into who we are and what distinguishes us from our academic peers.”