Exeter Students’ Guild announce plan to rebrand

AFTER more than six years of the same branding, Exeter Students' Guild has decided it is time to change their look.

In Spring 2022, the Guild released their new strategy to reorganise and rebrand their image. They have set out four objectives which include: having a relevant and engaging brand accessible to the student community, having a brand that aligns with their strategy and values, ensuring students view the Guild in a positive light and see it is an integral part of their student experience, and to make sure their name clearly reflects who they are and what they want to achieve. The Guild want to engage with their students, and they aim for their brand to be community-focused and innovative.

When Exeposé asked the students about the rebranding, they felt that the Guild should represent them, and their experiences and challenges.

One anonymous student told Exeposé that they thought the ‘Guild Rebrand is actually needed.’ From the three mood boards (segments of which are displayed below) the Guild have created, the image they are capturing is more youthful, creative, and fun — more relevant to the students themselves. The colours are bold, and its creativity should be inspiring. Mood board one is described as ‘raw college’, with its pop of colour and scrapbook style making it look arty, fun and like an album cover. While mood board two is much more two-dimensional and futuristic, the geometric shapes calling back to the time of art deco with a modern, technology-focused twist. Mood board three focused on bold contrasts. Again, it is in the design of a creative college, but it is more modern, flat, and sharp. The Guild gathered feedback on these respective mood boards on both St Luke’s and Streatham campus.

A spokesperson for the Guild said: “Old fashioned, corporate, and confusing are some of the words that have been used to describe us and our brand. We totally see where students are coming from, we’ve had some big internal changes and feel like we have outgrown our existing brand (which has existed for 6+ years).

We released our new strategy and values in Spring 2022 which set out our new organisational values, plus the University have just gone through a big rebrand too, so we feel like it’s the perfect time for us to have a new look and feel!

This rebrand is not just for those of us who work for the Guild, it is for all our students too, which is why we have been consulting students on the whole process!

Our ambition is to be a current and exciting part of the experience here at Exeter, we want the Guild to be relevant to all students, and for students to feel that we are an integral part of their experience.

So far we have consulted students on every aspect of the rebrand including the concept, logos, colour palettes and tone of voice.

You can read more about our rebrand on our website - www. exeterguild.com/rebrand-2023.”