ASCEND

Design
# Branding, Logo, Merchandise, NYU, Work

Summary

ASCEND is an HR-led group aiming to strengthen working relationships and foster belonging at NYU Arts & Science.

Tasked with designing a logo for the then-called NYU Arts & Science Community Building Team, I pitched a catchier name and accompanying logo as a strategy to inspire pride and boost engagement.

Client

NYU Arts & Science

Roles

Brand Strategist
Logo Designer

Goals

Connect and engage employees across NYU Arts & Science

Encapsulate the group’s mission of growth and development into a memorable brand identity

Process

Trying to veer away from the name Community Building Team and knowing the group would often be referred to by its acronym, I made a list of inspirational words starting with AS, planning the acronym to begin with Arts & Science. Out of a short list of favorites, I drafted options for each letter, eventually landing on Arts & Science Community Engagement, Networking, and Development.

Name

Aiming for a more memorable name, I brainstormed inspirational words starting with "AS" to align with "Arts & Science." From the shortlist of contenders, our team chose ASCEND (Arts & Science Community Engagement, Networking, and Development).

Logo

The logo concept came immediately from the idea of ascension: a set of stairs, boxed in like the NYU torch, with an angled gradient moving from NYU violet to a bright blue. Simple and memorable, it alludes to the professional and personal growth that the group fosters.

Brand Identity

Impact

When Arts & Science wanted to rebrand and relaunch our community building efforts, we turned to our in-house experts to guide us on this part of the journey. Tina meaningfully contributed to the most important parts of our needs... the new name of our community and the logo. After sharing the mission of our community, the perfect name, ASCEND, was developed and it completely embodied our values and mission. Paired with the new logo used in our emails and merch, our community really started to take shape and we were able to start to make a name for ourselves throughout the larger Arts & Science community. Feedback from employee participants has been very positive and we look forward to launching into our second year of ASCEND after a successful inaugural year. Tina has been invaluable to this part of the process and her efforts are very much appreciated — she's easy to work with, detail-oriented, responds quickly for our fire projects, and was able to translate our needs into a final product that we're proud of. We look forward to continue working with Tina and the team in the coming months.

Tina Solo