LASALLE School of Design Communication

LASALLE SoDC approached us to reassess its visual identity system on social media, its website and yearly publications. The brief came at the perfect time—emerging from the pandemic lull, LASALLE announced its merger with Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) to form the University of the Arts Singapore.

Upon audit, we found that the current visual identity was inconsistent and fragmented across different social media accounts, lacking a unified brand direction. Our primary goal was for the SoDC to look and communicate like an institution—this meant integrating academic sensibilities while retaining its youthful, art-school appeal.

One of our key considerations was to create a visual system to complement different themes fluidly every two years while retaining a consistent brand identity. We set out to introduce components that allowed for flexible adaptations, reframing content within a modular template while providing a cohesive style, image and colour palette guide. We opted for a timeless serif alongside a modern sans serif font. Keeping true to the art-school aesthetic, the typography was complete with a subtle raw finish discernible only by a keen designer’s eye upon closer look.

Following this identity refresh, part of our strategy was also to establish a design guideline to ensure a unified brand look and feel across multiple upcoming themes in the future. The inaugural theme, ‘A Blank Slate’, was then presented, referencing a rare opportunity for everyone to start afresh and begin again—both visually and internally. Coming out in a new post-COVID world, the concept of embarking on new beginnings was just the blank canvas that both faculty and students needed to reexamine and rejuvenate. This renewed perspective encouraged them to take a critical, introspective look at their ideologies and rediscover what all these possibilities mean ahead.

As the visual system unfolded, this project served beyond a brand identity update. We expanded on this new position with content pillars built on a list of words with the prefix ‘RE-’ such as ‘recharge’, ‘reimagine’, ‘reset’, ‘revitalise’ and ‘refocus’ to reflect the idea of growth, transformation and an exciting sense of starting something anew towards the future.