UH to receive logo finalists
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
Up to six prospective logos for the University of Hawai'i system will be submitted today by three Hawai'i design firms and the public should get a chance to see them all within a week or so.
"We need to check copyrights to make sure they're all clear," said Phil Kinnicutt, UH director of marketing and brand management, who is helping oversee this latest process of finding a new logo to "brand" the system internationally. Currently more than 150 images used by departments and programs throughout the university system fail to offer a unified public image.
"It could take three or four days or a week to 10 days," Kinnicutt said. "Then we want to make them available to the community for comment for seven days. They'll be on the Internet."
People will be able to send comments by letter or e-mail, Kinnicutt said, before the Aug. 11 evaluation committee meeting.
In the wake of last year's largely negative reaction to the first two proposed logos, the UH Board of Regents established a new process to try again to come up with a symbol to market the university worldwide and to be used on everything from campus signs to T-shirts and stationery. It will not supplant the official UH seal that will continue to be used on diplomas, or the athletic logos used for the Manoa and Hilo teams.
The three firms submitting up to two logos apiece by today include Graphic House of Honolulu, Clarence Lee Design & Associates of Honolulu, and Sac Design of Maui.
The three were chosen at the end of May by the 15-person evaluation committee headed by Francis Oda, chairman and chief executive officer of Group 70 International.
Kinnicutt said the evaluation committee will include public comment in its final decision-making. Last time there were more than 1,400 e-mails commenting on the two proposed choices, and so much displeasure that former president Evan Dobelle scrapped both.
Kinnicutt could not say how much weight public opinion will play in this decision. And Carolyn Tanaka, UH associate vice president for external affairs, said it has not yet been determined whether the public comment will be made public.
It will be up to the committee to choose a design to be submitted to the Board of Regents for approval as early as the Sept. 9-10 meeting on Kaua'i. If the committee doesn't like any of the prospects, Kinnicutt said there is "an escape clause" under which it could reject all of them.
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
