Columbia University, founded in 1754 as King’s College in New York City, has used some iteration of a crown as its official symbol throughout its history. The university also maintains a shield and a seal, but the crown serves as the primary institutional mark. The official trademark today consists of the modern crown symbol adjacent to the full name of the University in an approved color.[1][2]
Design and History
Columbia’s symbolic association with a crown dates to the days of King’s College, when a copper crown was affixed atop the cupola of College Hall, a visible symbol of the College’s royal charter. That original crown now hangs over the fireplace in the Trustees Room of Low Library.[3]
The crown’s adoption as a school symbol did not occur until the turn of the twentieth century, and even then it was adopted informally. In November 1898, a group of students and professors founded a new student literary society called “Kings Crown,” which deliberately reached back to old King’s College for its name and prominently featured a crown in its logo, designed by School of Architecture student Huger Elliott (Class of 1899). Elliott’s design departed from the original King’s College Crown in several ways, including elongated crosses attached to the circlet and the removal of alternating diamond-shaped decorations around the circlet.[3]
What is known today as the “Columbia College Crown” began life in 1910 as a logo of the Columbia Alumni News, a weekly alumni newsletter. The newsletter featured a crown design in each of the four corners of its border, and this design is what is now recognized as the Columbia College Crown.[3]
Around 1996 at the latest, a cleaned-up version of the modern crown, without any ornamentation representing jewels, began appearing in graphical form on Columbia’s website. This design was formally adopted as the official Columbia crown in 2006.[3] The official logo is the modern crown adjacent to the full name of the University.[1]
Many different crown designs have remained in concurrent use over the years. It is considered appropriate for certain iterations of the crown to continue to be used by some schools, since those crowns have historical significance. Two visible examples include Columbia College, which uses a historical version of the crown, and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, which employs a crown reflecting its founding as the School of Mines. A number of schools use a modern version of the crown featuring three diamonds rather than echoing the three crosses of the traditional crown.[1]
Meaning and Symbolism
The crown symbol traces its roots back to the copper crown that once surmounted Columbia’s first building, College Hall, during the King’s College era.[3] The traditional crown design features three crosses, while an alternate modern version replaces the crosses with diamonds.[1]
The official Columbia color is Columbia Blue, defined as Pantone 290. It is based on the color of the Philolexian Society, Columbia’s oldest student organization, founded in 1802.[4]
Typography and Design
The Columbia University trademark was designed using the official University typeface, Trajan Pro, with a precise size, weight, and kerning between letterforms. The logo features specific proportions of type height in relation to the visual mark.[2][5]
The trademark may be rendered in black, white, or approved blues. On a light color background, the logo can be rendered in black, gray (60% black), Pantone 280, or Pantone 286; on a darker color background, it can be rendered in Pantone 290, Pantone 291, or Pantone 284.[5]
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