Dramatic Change Sweeps BU

I’m tempted to make some sort of smart-ass comment here, but instead I’m going to let the Boston University communications department speak for itself. In the lede of their website’s story about the school’s brand new logo, they write:

A year and a half of study, discussion, and hard work ended last week when members of the Office of Marketing and Communications gathered in the Metcalf Trustee Ballroom for the unveiling of the University’s new master logo, along with a manual of guidelines for its use.

Ok, now look at the old logo (above on the left), set aside the new logo (on the right). I know what you’re thinking: it’s a really good thing they took their time with this. The decision to remove the white line separating “Boston” and “University” clearly necessitated a minimum of 18 months of “study, discussion and hard work,” not to mention the tab B.U. paid local design firm Toth Brand Imaging.

And lest you think that the removal of the line was the only change:

Scott Dasse, the creative director for [B.U.’s] Office of New Media, said that although the new logo is very similar to the old one, the spacing has been adjusted to make the words feel less crowded and the integrity of the border has been strengthened so the image can be reproduced at a variety of sizes.

It’s true, I’ve never seen borders with that much integrity. I’d trust them with my life. Now, the only question is who’s more adept at wasting money: BU or MIT?