A new Berkeley logo with revised font and no "University of California" has rolled out across social media and the university website. The favicon for berkeley.edu has switched from the Cal logo to a capital B. Not a good sign for the Cal/California brand.

And yet ...

#HaasOfPain pic.twitter.com/pCJSwnh5ff

— Eric McDonough (@McDonoughEric) May 18, 2024

Bet you there is no real coordination on any rebranding. That would be too un-Cal.

The circus never stops. Fml, just pick a damn brand and stick with it. I hope this is one of the first things Lyons cleans up.

Yikes, something looks off about that new font.

And 'B' as our primary logo instead of Cal? 'Luckily' one can already buy this hat…

https://slimages.macysassets.com/is/image/MCY/products/3/optimized/1954703_fpx.tif

Deleted.

Hate it

captainbonzo said:

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A new Berkeley logo with revised font and no "University of California" has rolled out across social media and the university website. The favicon for berkeley.edu has switched from the Cal logo to a capital B. Not a good sign for the Cal/California brand.

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I like it

Years from now, future BI posters will be asking me to explain my handle. And I'll reply, "You know that big 'B' that's on the hill? Well, years ago ... "

Every time this topic comes up, I'm reminded of a B-school classmate at Michigan. He was a Cornell grad and would refer to Cal as "U-Cal" and I'd say, "Stu, it's CAL . . . just CAL . . . No U . . . No Berkeley . . . just CAL."
Of course, this was 45 years ago and maybe we've finally lost the battle.

But if so, I wish they'd pick a more modern font for "Berkeley". Serif fonts have their place, but they can look archaic and fussy and I think that's the case here. It's as though they're trying to be this grand institution rather than a dynamic, forward-looking place.

They really hit all their channels at once... here's LinkedIn:



Amazing to think they could coordinate anything overnight, like this rebrand on digital.

In '72 when I started, that's all us Oakland boys used to call the university. It was associated with anarchy and long hair, two things we couldn't get away with at O'Dowd.

95bears said:

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They really hit all their channels at once... here's LinkedIn:



Amazing to thing they could coordinate anything overnight, like this rebrand on digital.

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Great - the University of Boron. They should have picked Bk!

HoopDreams said:

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Hate it

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Same.

HearstMining said:

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95bears said:

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They really hit all their channels at once... here's LinkedIn:



Amazing to thing they could coordinate anything overnight, like this rebrand on digital.

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Great - the University of Boron. They should have picked Bk!

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I had the same thought, we're "giving up" Californium in some ways but this was an opportunity to claim Bk and make people associate us with hard core science.

My initials are BK so that would have been a bonus for buying swag.

We have got to fight this change.

When I think of The University of California Berkeley and its iconic script Cal, I immediately think of a large letter B. Fantastic branding and creates zero consumer confusion!

The Bk element pic on the periodic table should be an alt-helmet for us.

The California script is one of the best logos in the country. Why ruin this?

This may not be a solvable problem. Many of our sports fans want the football helmet logo attached to all aspects of the university; the faculty and administration want that associated with sports. The faculty and administration want Berkeley because the name has worldwide academic cachet; many sports fans and boosters would go ballistic if "Berkeley" was the name on the front of the football or basketball jerseys.

They are trying to make both camps happy with Berkeley branding for academics and Cal branding for athletics. See: https://brand.berkeley.edu/news/updated-brand-identity-launches

I don't have an answer that will satisfy both groups. Maybe there isn't one.

Do a google search for Berkeley.edu on your iPhone and the metadata still pops up with the Cal logo. lol.

bearister said:

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In '72 when I started, that's all us Oakland boys used to call the university. It was associated with anarchy and long hair, two things we couldn't get away with at O'Dowd.

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above the ears and collar.... of course, we pushed our hair behind our ears and did our best to crane our necks to keep if off our collars (class of 75)

Good to see an official rejection of the "Cal Berkeley" rebrand idea at least.

petalumabear said:

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bearister said:

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In '72 when I started, that's all us Oakland boys used to call the university. It was associated with anarchy and long hair, two things we couldn't get away with at O'Dowd.

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above the ears and collar.... of course, we pushed our hair behind our ears and did our best to crane our necks to keep if off our collars (class of 75)

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I think we PM'd about our BO days before. You were a freshman when I was a senior. Dave Meniketti, in my class, was getting his band Y & T together by '71-'72 and stuffed his hair under a short haired wig to keep in compliance.

The solution for all this is to have ONE. BIG. THREAD. on Bear Imsider, debating what we should call ourselves and why! Okay, we have done this a gazillion few times... but this time, have it be one, consolidated thread!


We could call it, "What Should We Call Ourselves? (for the final time)"

... or ... "Let's Go 100% 'Berkeley': discus"

... or ... "Cal, California, Cal-Berkeley, or Calvin Booth? Discuss some more ... "

I just can't wait to find out what people think about this!

So our traditional C has been changed to B!?!!!

Terrible

Big C you've been rebranded!

95bears said:

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They really hit all their channels at once... here's LinkedIn:



Amazing to think they could coordinate anything overnight, like this rebrand on digital.

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I was class of '73 at BOD. Remember they gave you a couple of warnings about the sideburns/long hair and after that they dry-shaved you if you didn't get it done. Always took care of things in house. Both my daughters went there and were well prepared for college. I do remember Meniketti and Y & T. BTW one daughter lives in Petaluma ( for Petalumabear ). Great town.

I went to St. Paschal's (J Kidd most famous alumnus). You?
Father Wagner invited me into his office one morning and told me to cut my hair. My buddies and I that went to Cal came back to BO during Thanksgiving time to attend the Alumni Basketball Game Rockin' 6 months of hair growth and Neil Young Buffalo Springfield era 'burns. I think the administration thought they had failed us. SUPPRESSION BREEDS ANARCHY!

BearSD said:

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This may not be a solvable problem. Many of our sports fans want the football helmet logo attached to all aspects of the university; the faculty and administration want that associated with sports. The faculty and administration want Berkeley because the name has worldwide academic cachet; many sports fans and boosters would go ballistic if "Berkeley" was the name on the front of the football or basketball jerseys.

They are trying to make both camps happy with Berkeley branding for academics and Cal branding for athletics. See: https://brand.berkeley.edu/news/updated-brand-identity-launches

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I'm OK with that approach. But having a "B" as the logo for the academics/research side doesn't make any sense. The prestige is attached with the spelled-out word "Berkeley," not with the letter "B". "B" is associated with Boston, or Baltimore, or even Buffalo. Don't get cute, simply spell out the word.

The abbreviation "B" also serves to confound the academic side with a sports-like logo, bringing even more confusion where distinction & clarity are the targets. Be consistent in keeping the 2 spheres separate.

It's actually a desirable situation that most people don't associate embarrassing/below-average teams with our prestigious university. A clear & uniformly demarcated dual-branding approach is a feature, not a bug. And if some sports programs become consistently elite (such as our aquatics teams), everyone who even casually follows those sports will already know that Cal/California = sports at the Univ. of California, Berkeley.

posted twice

100% agree. What bothers me most about the B is that symbolically it feels like we've lost the Fight for California and have capitulated to the Bruins as the new flagship UC.

Nasal Mucus Goldenbear said:

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BearSD said:

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This may not be a solvable problem. Many of our sports fans want the football helmet logo attached to all aspects of the university; the faculty and administration want that associated with sports. The faculty and administration want Berkeley because the name has worldwide academic cachet; many sports fans and boosters would go ballistic if "Berkeley" was the name on the front of the football or basketball jerseys.

They are trying to make both camps happy with Berkeley branding for academics and Cal branding for athletics. See: https://brand.berkeley.edu/news/updated-brand-identity-launches

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I'm OK with that approach. But having a "B" as the logo for the academics/research side doesn't make any sense. The prestige is attached with the spelled-out word "Berkeley," not with the letter "B". "B" is associated with Boston, or Baltimore, or even Buffalo. Don't get cute, simply spell out the word.

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I don't disagree about the B, though you can't really spell out the word in a small logo. Maybe the brand designer is going for a single-letter logo like Harvard's H logo, or Stanford's S, or Yale's Y. As a new logo, though, this B doesn't have the history or long-standing use of the other three. Econ141 suggested Bk, the chemical symbol for Berkelium -- the logo might be in the style of this magnet you can buy on campus, but with just "Bk" inside the box?

Bk too Burger King

With the California script over the outline of the state, at center court, it almost looks like the aim is to lay claim to the "entire state" of California, as in THE University of California. And 'that other school down South is just a knock off'.

captainbonzo said:

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100% agree. What bothers me most about the B is that symbolically it feels like we've lost the Fight for California and have capitulated to the Bruins as the new flagship UC.

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Yes this has already happened. Athletically they have always been better and now are part of the relevant 2 conferences and we are not. They also have lower admittance rate now and tied #1 public school from the primary rating service. So they have the edge.

They also have a B for bruins as the logo on their hats. So now we are copying them!!!

Econ141 said:

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captainbonzo said:

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100% agree. What bothers me most about the B is that symbolically it feels like we've lost the Fight for California and have capitulated to the Bruins as the new flagship UC.

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Yes this has already happened. Athletically they have always been better and now are part of the relevant 2 conferences and we are not. They also have lower admittance rate now and tied #1 public school from the primary rating service. So they have the edge.

They also have a B for bruins as the logo on their hats. So now we are copying them!!!

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Edge? Ehhh.

Can't change the fact that southern California has a lot more people, can't change the weather or anything else prospective students like about Socal (all of which leads UCLA to a lower freshman acceptance rate, though UC Berkeley has a lower acceptance rate in comparable graduate departments). Athletically, can't change the fact that UCLA offered proximity to the football team the Big Ten really wanted, plus basketball history, plus the opportunity for Fox to lock ESPN out of the LA market.

UC Berkeley has to work with what they can control, including reputation and accomplishments in faculty research superior to UCLA -- Nobels, other elite academic awards, world rankings of research universities like this and this and this and even this.