Dell Medical School, the medical school of The University of Texas at Austin, uses a shield-based logo that incorporates the university’s burnt orange alongside a second color. The school opened in 2016 as the first ground-up medical school built at a top-tier American research university in 50 years.[1]
Design and History
Dell Medical School was the first college on campus to use the redesigned University of Texas identity, a branding project developed by the architecture and design firm Page.[2] Page positioned and branded the school before its first building, faculty member, or student arrived, and created the “Rethink Everything” campaign to support the school’s mission of transforming medical education and healthcare delivery.[2] The motto was also referenced by Page senior principal Lawrence Speck in describing the school’s architectural approach.[1]
The Dell Med logo follows guidelines from the UT Austin Office of Brand, Trademarks and Licensing and visual identity guidelines from University Communications.[3] The preferred version is a two-color logo, with additional approved one-color versions available.[3] Official usage rules specify that the shield must not be isolated from the rest of the logo, the logo must not be displayed in unapproved colors, and fonts within the logo must not be substituted.[3]
Minimum clearance around the logo must be equal to the height and width of the shield, and the shield should not appear smaller than 50 pixels tall for digital use or 0.375 inches tall for print.[3]
Meaning and Symbolism
The Dell Med logo incorporates a blue associated with the school alongside UT Austin’s burnt orange. A designer working on a joint Dell Medical School and McCombs School of Business brochure described the challenge of balancing “Dell Med blue” with McCombs yellow and “the quite overpowering burnt orange” while maintaining the core UT identity.[4] Burnt orange is the university’s primary color, as documented in the architectural treatment of the Dell Medical School campus, where exterior sun-shading fins on south-facing windows are burnt orange.[1]
Typography and Design
Official brand guidelines for Dell Med prohibit substituting fonts within the logo, indicating that the typography is a fixed component of the mark.[3] The Dell Med brand resources page provides approved logo files, digital letterhead, PowerPoint templates, and related materials for consistent application across the school.[5]
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