By Mason Soto.
This story is part of our April 1 edition.
In a recent swipe of the Invisible Hand that guides the choices of this brutalist institution, trickled down from the offices of President, Public Relations, Marketing, and so on, comes word of a newly sanctioned Style Guide for The Evergreen State College Community at large. #nice
In the last year, the school’s website added a Comprehensive Page covering the Multipronged New Guide aimed at squelching any deviance regarding our color scheme, logos, proper names, and other hard and fast rules committed to Sharing Our Brand for All External Communications. “Evergreen has powerful stories to tell,” the page reads, and the folks at Marketing want us as prepared as any instagram model on how to #ShareOurBrand! The full Identity Standards & Brand Guidelines can be found on that page.
When rushed by a reporter and confronted with the new style guide platitudes, student Jorisha Mayo said, “That’s hella weird.”
Much like advice anyone could take for a good dating profile (or a corporate entity), the style guide says, “A strong visual identity and consistent expression of our distinction will provide the unifying elements necessary for a story that resonates.” Lead with a good photo, then say how you’re totally different from other schools. Something that can make anyone #SwipeRightOnEvergreen
Then there is a page dedicated to proper names. We are to call our school The Evergreen State College, or Evergreen, or not at all. The Brand Guide also wants us to know that, “Evergreen’s full-name logo should not be your first choice, as the primary brand is the word ‘Evergreen’ alone.” Furthermore, the school rebukes any initialisms — that is, ESC, and especially TESC.
Web Manager for the Cooper Point Journal and staunch social critic Daniel Vogel called the school’s stand against initialisms “idiotic with a big name like that.”
Our new logos are more standard than the last, affectionately lopsided iteration, though they still include a silhouetted cedar, mountain, and single sky sphere, alongside our name, of course stylized in lowercase to be cool.
The image and words are now centered, and vectorized, a change which the Journal’s own Business Manager Morrissey Morrissey suggested is, “a symptom of them trying to smooth out the roughness of campus culture that makes Evergreen what it is.” Wow! Interpretation for the win.
Later in the Style Guide, among the guidelines for photography representing Our Evergreen Brand, is a line declaring how photos should highlight “diverse students collaborating.” This explains why three different pictures of my black friend were on the website’s front page for months! #InclusiveExcellence at its finest.
To ensure the Evergreen Community we are in the best hands through this transition from an inconsistent, vagabond style to a Sleek, Revamped Brand, the announcement of the style guide ensures the changes were “developed in partnership with GMMB, a top branding firm.” #Winning #NotAnAd
The national firm lists a number of Modern Services on their website including “Advertising”, “Brand Strategy”, and a peculiarly named “Movement Building” — could Evergreen stage the next Great Cultural Moment, replacing Kendall Jenner and Pepsi as the vanguards of progress? Only time will tell.
Let it be known that while these rules define how we must represent the school to outsiders, internal communications must be forgiven for their traditionalism. (Looking at you, TESCWireless.)
Let it also be known that the Journal’s own style guide is pending, indefinitely.
