Branding a World of Bigger Differences.

Oxford University

Branding a World of Bigger Differences

Brand design. Copywriting. Asset toolkit.

The research done at the University of Oxford addresses major, complex challenges, including the climate crisis, mental health and democracy, as well as more specific issues such as rare diseases and low traffic neighbourhoods.

The Public and Community Engagement in Research (PCER) team support researchers to involve the general public in this work. The lessons learned as a result of these critically important partnerships increase the relevance and real-life impact of research carried out across the University.

The team approached us to create a new identity for their work. They wanted a visual brand to sit apart from, but be complementary to, the main University identity, and some clear messaging to inspire researchers to engage, and to explain the centre’s remit.

The brand needed various ways to badge engagement activity, so along with the team at Oxford we developed a hierarchy of endorsement marks and identifiers that can be adopted by University staff according to need.

We worked closely with their team on two copy lines – a brand line and a strapline. A world of bigger differences explains the global reach and impact of the University’s research. Connect. Listen. Cocreate. is a concise way to explain the process of working with the public.

We created a brand built around repeat pattern of dots, joined to signify the connections made during the engagement process. This system is modular; the dots can be rearranged according to specific outputs: some have a feeling of growth, others an upward trajectory, others feel like groups of people or plotted data.