Rebranding a Dynamic Research Library Ecosystem

To create a standout brand identity for Dartmouth Libraries, we started by looking at college & university libraries they admire and see as influential. Our goal was to see what these other libraries were doing well and apply those insights into Dartmouth Libraries’ goals.

One key insight informed our work; namely that most college library brands feel like a 1.2 version of the university brand — a second-tier add-on. We wanted the Dartmouth Libraries brand to feel distinct yet equal to all other Dartmouth departments, an admirable member of the Dartmouth family of brands.

The spark element of the final logo came out of previous strategic brand work completed by the Dartmouth team. We liked the idea of the spark because it’s an expression of an epiphany that’s worth pursuing. Also looks like an asterisk — which usually means that more information is to be found — one of the roles of libraries, especially research libraries.

The typography system borrows from the Dartmouth system, with an intentional departure for the strength of a font that’s bold, impactful, and compact to address the challenge of having a long name.

The visual brand system can be re-organized on the fly, allowing for infinite possibilities, similar to how research can reframe thoughts and ideas. This approach allows the system to easily scale. Some components of the system bring in human elements, an important aspect of the library experience.

The color strategy balances being notable and new while maintaining the Dartmouth heritage. We took core colors and used them in new ways such as the light blue for gestural elements and yellow as a core color for buttons and other UX actions.

The brackets are core framing elements for imagery and other aspects of the system used to emphasize important pieces of content.

To bring the majority of the Dartmouth Libraries website components into alignment with the current design language — without redesigning the entire site — we designed a suite of the primary components including the navigation, options for the Hero (topmost section) of pages, a variety of information cards and related Call to Action (CTA) buttons, multiple styles of content containers, and the mobile breakpoints.

The brand was created to live in both real world and digital spaces. One piece of brand extension that exemplifies this approach is bookmarks we designed to extend the brand into printed materials. They are a really fun artifact that has one foot in the past and one in the future. They are tangible extensions of the brand that are used at in-person events.

Additional elements of our brand extension work include letterhead and swag used for a variety of purposes. They uphold the integrity of the brand in a simple way and allow for outreach and internal uses that integrate the brand into the staff — the people who steward the brand on a daily basis.

Dartmouth Libraries consists of seven different libraries. Because each library has a different focus, it can be easy to drift away from the brand identity system. The guide encourages alignment across all of the libraries while providing flexibility to customize as needed.

The visual identity includes two different, but compatible types of illustrations. The icons for vision, values, purpose, and other messaging touchstones are conceptual in nature. The other set of icons are more UX and UI focused to indicate and prompt site visitor actions.

Similar to our approach for icons, we designed three different kinds of email types. The Check It Out version is for general emails, the Spotlight variant is for single-subject emails that highlight one message, and the Miscellaneous type provides maximum flexibility for any additional correspondences, not covered by the two primary types.

Social media is a daily communication strategy for Dartmouth Libraries. It’s the primary way people engage with the Dartmouth Libraries brand. We created a series of templates for different use cases:
 

• The template that Highlight their services are icon driven

• The culture and events template is photo driven matched with captions

• Collection announcements provide for a good mix of images and copy

• The template designed to showcase the value and raise awareness allows for longer form, more detailed copy

All photos copyright © the Trustees of Dartmouth. All rights reserved.