Manchester Polytechnic was a higher education institution formed in 1970 from the merger of the Manchester Mechanics Institute and the Manchester School of Design. It gained university status in 1992 and became Manchester Metropolitan University. The polytechnic’s visual identity was developed by the studio of German-born graphic designer Hans Schleger, who signed his work as “Zero.”
Design and History
The Manchester Polytechnic symbol was created around 1975 by Hans Schleger and his studio. Schleger was a prominent modernist designer who had created corporate identities for clients including MacFisheries, BP, ICI, John Lewis, Finmar Furniture and Grants Whisky. He had also lectured at the Regional College of Art, Manchester, giving him a direct connection to the city’s design education community. [1]
Following Schleger’s death in 1976, his wife Pat Schleger continued the studio and worked with existing clients, including Manchester Polytechnic. [2] The V&A Archive of Art and Design holds extensive material from the project, documenting the design process from rough sketches through to final artwork.
The archive records show that the design went through several stages of experimentation. Early roughs explored designs based on an owl and the letter M. [3] Further experimentation moved toward abstract forms of the letters M and P. [4] The final symbol was produced in multiple versions, including thick, condensed, slightly elongated and outline variants, suggesting a flexible identity system designed for different applications. [5] [6] [7] [8]
The identity was applied across the polytechnic’s communications, including posters and flyers advertising courses, produced between 1977 and about 1978, and a brochure for the polytechnic’s new All Saints Building in 1978. [9] [10]
Meaning and Symbolism
The archive documentation identifies the symbol’s basis as abstract forms of the letters M and P, standing for Manchester Polytechnic. [4] The design process also explored an owl motif, a traditional symbol of learning, combined with the letter M, though this direction was not carried through to the final mark. [3]
After Manchester Polytechnic became Manchester Metropolitan University in 1992, the institution adopted a new identity derived from its coat of arms. The university’s logo uses the upper part of the shield, featuring six spade-irons positioned together. [11] The Schleger-designed polytechnic symbol thus belongs specifically to the pre-1992 era of the institution’s history.
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