George Washington University recently unveiled its new logo (pictured right), a digital portrait of George Washington designed by GW’s assistant director of visual design.

The portrait is inspired by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon’s famous sculpture from the late 1700s, which was supposedly extremely accurate representation of our Founding Father. The unveiling ceremony included free food and t-shirts, as well as an appropriately-themed screening of the movie The Avengers, given the logo’s ability to transform good ol’ Washington into a digital/alien superhero.

According to George Washington Today, the University’s official online news source, the old logo (which puts a little more life in George’s peachy cheeks) was not compatible with online mediums and did not fulfill the modern, “visual” identity that the designers desired. “This is not a stagnant university,” said Forrest Maltzman, senior vice provost for academic affairs and planning, to Today. “It’s a university on the move, and I’m really excited we now have a logo that reflects that.”

GW students did not exactly jump in excitement during the logo unveiling ceremony. GW’s The Hatchet characterized the student reaction as both underwhelmed and possibly slightly disappointed. “Students’ hesitation seemed to indicate a question rippling through the room: “Is that it?,” The Hatchet wrote. The Hatchet also reported that rebranding for other universities cost up to $500,000.

Vox would spend a million dollars on that shining, sepia-toned, gleaming face.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 29th, 2012 at 12:18 pm and is filed under News, Vox Populi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.