Steve McCarthy

Branding a department within a larger organisation creates a few challenges. In creating the brand for the University of Sheffield Careers Service, I had to ensure the identity aligned with the wider University scheme, whilst also creating a unique identity that would be recognisable on its own.

The original brand for the Careers Service relied on a solid black background, plus 5 bold coloured squares. The 5 colours were supposed to represent different roles of the service, however these boundaries were often blurred, and some publications and resources fell outside these 5 groups, or would use other colours to identify specific audiences. This lead to inconsistency across the branded materials, and the heavy use of black could sometimes appear uninviting.

Many students understandably feel intimidated by the idea of thinking about careers – it’s a big and daunting topic! As such, many were uncomfortable approaching the Careers Service, assuming it was reserved for final year students who wanted to talk about a life long career. Some had even suggested that they thought they would need to wear a suit to visit the Service! We wanted to refresh the image to show that the Careers Service is a welcoming and inviting place, here to help students at any level with a range of topics.

One main objective was to bring the Careers Service closer to the overall University brand. However this meant trying to create a unique identity without using a logo, and whilst using the same typefaces and type setting as the rest of the University. This created an interesting challenge. We opted to create a graphic device that would be used within illustrations and designs, rather than being used as a badge to stick onto materials.

The image we decided to go with was the map pin. Familiar, easy to understand and an icon of direction and place, the map pin suitably represents the purpose of the Careers Service and brings the design into a modern look which our target audience would recognise. We also refreshed the colour scheme to make it softer, more comforting and easy on the eye. The black used previously was removed completely.

The design also included a suite of icons to use throughout documentation and designs to help articulate the messages.

There were also various animated explainer videos and social media content pieces to help raise awareness of the service and the support offered.

‍