Happy Nice Mall

You cannot exaggerate his contributions to the design of true legends such as Muriel Cooper [MIT Press’s longtime design director and a cofounding faculty member of the Media Lab] and Jacqueline Casey [an Institute graphic designer who achieved renown for her posters]”says Bierut. In the 1960s and ’70s, they helped define a visual language that not only communicated the MIT experience very well, but also helped the ‘outside’ world understand MIT in a new way.”

Admirers of the “Swiss style” of graphic design that emerged in the first half of the 20th century, Cooper and Casey were instrumental in creating the typographic motifs that dominate today, including the ubiquitous sans serif font Helvetica. Designed by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann at the Haas Type Foundry, it was originally called the Neue Haas Grotesk. Linotype Corporation licensed it and renamed it (with some nuanced changes) in 1960.

“I think any US academic institution—and perhaps even outside of academia—that uses this style today, I think I owe a huge thank you to MIT, which has owned Helvetica from the beginning,” Bierut says.

Alongside the design process, Pentagram writing partner Andrea Jarrell developed a kind of “manifesto” to provide a language to accompany the brand.

“The MIT graduate is gleefully full of paradoxes,” Jarrell says. “In one breath, they talk excitedly about their uneasy need to move forward, from solving the toughest problems out there to create a brighter future. And in the next chapter, they talk passionately about the history and traditions that make up their MIT. To be original in both wording and design, society We had to take into account the seriousness and respect for the changing developments, as well as the joy and quirky fun of the famous MIT hackers and Tim the Beaver.”

The design team, including Bierut and Sachi Chandiramani, understood that this dichotomy was an essential part of the task. His eyes turned to campus, particularly the Endless Corridor, which connects MIT’s buildings between Kendall Square and Massachusetts Avenue. they found there quiet but important work by sign maker Glenn SilvaFor decades, it has handcrafted department and faculty titles on corridor doors. Early in her time at MIT, Silva shared responsibility with the late Gifford Hudson.

The serif script Silva uses has visual links with other parts of the Institute’s history, including the etched script that adorned the exteriors of the “Main Group” of the original Beaux Arts buildings dating back to the Institute’s relocation from Boston to Cambridge in 1916. Bierut also learned that typewriter Tim Ripper had designed a digital font at MIT based on the inscriptions on the doors; he actually called it Corridor.

143,000 graduates, one design

While Jarrell wrote a manifesto on the MIT alumni experience, highlighting many themes, the designers sought only one way forward in terms of creating a visual identity. While the manifesto will be used behind the scenes as a guide to express the spirit of the alumni community, the graphic branding elements will be visible to all. The association knew it was critical to get the job done right.

One of the most important recommendations was that the logo designed by the group focused on the idea of ​​“MIT Alumni” rather than the MIT Alumni Association as an organization. This will allow the alumni community to feel that the mark represents them – approximately 143,000 living Institute alumni. In this concept, “MIT Alumni” is the visual brand and helps facilitate the graduate experience, as the MIT Alumni Association has done since its founding in 1875 with the mission to “enhance the well-being of the Institute and its graduates.” increase members’ interest in the school and in each other.”

To ensure that the design with the highest alumni resonance was selected, Pentagram and staff approached the MIT Alumni Association board of directors as representatives of the wider alumni community. In March 2020, Bierut attended the board’s quarterly meeting on campus to present three of the design guidelines for a new logo his team came up with. The two leaned heavily towards the Helvetica-inspired camp, while the third relied on the Corridor approach.

After receiving feedback from volunteer leaders that each font could resonate strongly in the community for different reasons, Pentagram developed a concept that would allow for both. It would be the new brand 2nd with official fonts, Neue Haas Grotesk (in its original form) and “GG” in homage to the authors of Corridor GG, Silva and Hudson, officially and exclusively licensed by the Association as digital writing. The former will be used as a font for the new “MIT Alumni” sign, while the latter can be deployed as a display font to convey key messages within the design.

“What Pentagram showed us was a design path that allowed us to integrate both fonts, both aspects of our community,” Espich says. “Our alumni and graduates have a deep history of social contribution, but they are also futuristic. They arise from technical excellence and pragmatism, and at the same time always reach new knowledge and new understanding. There is no single way to define them. We seem to have found a solution with this new sign.”

Bierut received great support when he returned to present the new concept to the MIT Alumni Association board of directors at the December 2020 meeting. Subsequent presentations to smaller groups of MIT volunteers and Institute stakeholders further confirmed the warm welcome. The new visual identity, made up of two fonts and an updated color palette, was officially unveiled in a new alumni video during the 2021 MIT Alumni Leadership Conference.

“I like to think that our new brand is more than just an exciting logo with beautiful fonts and color options, but it’s a story,” says Association president Annalisa Weigel ’94, ’95, SM ’00, PhD ’02. “As MIT alumni, it tells the world who we are. To be successful, graduates need to resonate with this story. Based on the smiles and nods of recognition I’ve seen on the faces of graduates of all ages and stages, I think the new brand tells our story very well.”

Notice of Proposed Changes to the MIT Alumni Association Executive Document

The MITAA Board of Directors unanimously approved the changes.

XI of the current Regulation. Article (“Amendments”) Establishment and Constitutional Articles of the MIT Alumni and Alumni Association (“Constitution”)The proposed amendments to the Constitution are announced here. These amendments, proposed after in-depth review by the Ad-Hoc Governance Committee, will ensure that the Constitution is more accurate and more consistent with MITAA’s current operational structure.

Changes and a summary can be viewed at: http://alum.mit.edu/constitutionamendment. The Constitution includes a mechanism for alumni to review changes before they are implemented or to petition collectively to demand a full alumni membership vote.

Interim Management Committee members are Stephen DeFalco ’83, SM ’88 (chairman), Elaine Harris ’78, Kevin Pryzbocki ’86, SM ’87, Ramon San Pedro ’86, SM ’88, Annalisa Weigel. 94, ’95, SM ’00, PhD ’02 (ex officio) and Whitney T. Espich (ex officio).