The University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, uses a heraldic shield as its primary institutional mark, alongside a separate corporate seal reserved for official documents. The university’s brand standards, maintained by the Office of the University Secretary, govern the use of these marks and their variants [1].
Design and History
The University of Pennsylvania’s coat of arms was approved in 1932 and adopted in 1933 [2]. The heraldic description reads: “In the chief, gules, two open books and a dolphin, argent; in the ground, argent, a chevron, azure, with three plates, argent” [2]. The arms serve a decorative rather than legal function, distinguishing them from the university seal, which authenticates official documents [2].
The university seal, which originated in the 1750s, was also redesigned in 1932 and adopted in 1933, returning it to “virtually its original form” [2]. The seal depicts seven books stacked on a slanted desk, bearing the titles Theolog, Astronom, Philosoph, Mathemat, Logica, Rhetorica, and Grammatica, encircled by the inscription Universitas Pennsylvaniensis [2].
In the early 2000s, under former President Judith Rodin, Penn undertook a process to update its logo and standardize colors across the university’s twelve schools [3]. This effort produced the current Penn logo, featuring the university shield with the word “PENN” beside it [3].
Penn Athletics introduced a new athletic logo in 2004, created by the New York branding firm SME [4]. The design features a white shield with a blue border, the word “PENN” in white on a blue background at the top, and a modernized version of the red and blue split “P” in the center [4]. The university also changed the athletic name from “Pennsylvania” to “Penn” during this rebranding [3].
Meaning and Symbolism
The arms memorialize two important influences in the founding of the university: Benjamin Franklin and the Penn family [2]. The design incorporates the three plates from the Penn family arms and the dolphin from the Franklin shield [2]. The open books denote an institution of learning [2].
The university motto, Leges sine Moribus vanae, translates to “Laws without morals are useless” [2]. Its selection is attributed to the first Provost, William Smith, who drew from a quotation by Horace [2]. The motto took its modern form in 1932, after a brief period when the word Literae was substituted for Leges following an unfortunate misinterpretation of the original wording [2].
Penn’s red and blue colors are believed to have been chosen originally by a student representing the university at a track meet in Saratoga, New York, in 1874 [2]. The Athletic Association adopted these colors in 1876, and the Trustees followed in 1895 for academic hoods [2]. In 1910, the Trustees specified that the colors conform to the standards used in the United States flag [2].
Typography and Design
The full University of Pennsylvania logo utilizes two typefaces: Perpetua for the Penn mark and ITC Stone Serif for the “University of Pennsylvania” logotype [5]. Both typefaces are copyrighted and must be licensed for usage [5].
The official Penn logo colors are Penn Red (Hex: #990000, Pantone 201) and Penn Blue (Hex: #011F5B, Pantone 288) [5]. The logo can also be used in black and white or Penn blue alone, though other colors are strongly discouraged [5].
Penn also maintains a Simplified Shield version, developed for use when the shield is rendered small enough that the details of the dolphin and open volumes become indistinguishable, such as in favicons and custom emoji [1].
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