Salford University

I know I'm a bit late with this post, I'm not sure where the last three or four weeks have gone to be honest with you, but I tore this article out of the advertiser a few weeks ago and tucked it into my diary because I knew I would eventually get round to blogging about it.

Its a strange little article but it does throw up a few questions, I'm not really sure what the journalist is trying to achieve but I guess there will have been a few readers concerned and maybe upset about Salford Uni adding the word Manchester to their logo.  I'm also fairly sure that there will also have been the odd reader who shook their head and sighed at the cost of the new logo, £132,336.  Both of those details in their own way are kind shocking, why should Salford University feel the need to add 'Manchester' to it logo and would they pay a £132,336 for it?

Personally I'm not shocked or surprised by either, Salford Uni wants to promote itself to a massive market, both across the UK and abroad and they obviously feel that a new logo featuring 'Manchester' would help their cause.  The price, unfortunately is probably about right, big agencies charge big clients big amounts of money.

My issue with the story is actually the fact that Salford University chose to go to a London design agency, personally I think thats far more shocking.  Why didn't they use one of the many design agencies based in Salford, why didn't they commission one of the many Graphic Designers that learned their trade in Salford... or why not let every designer currently studying at the University have a go at designing the logo?  Can you imagine what an opportunity that would have been for a young designer?

I don't know how long was spent on the new logo or how many people worked on it but I'm really not that impressed with it.  I know that most projects are client driven, we have to design something that they want, so we base the design on the information that they give us.  So maybe I'm being a little harsh on the Agency in question, somebody at Salford University has picked that logo out, it was probably the same numpty who decided to use London Agency.

I've got a bit of a love hate relationship with Salford University, I actually went, I did a Foundation course in 1998/99 and then went onto to my HND in Graphic Design in 1999/2001.  My time there was a bit up and down.  I really enjoyed the Foundation course but my time on the HND course was incredibly frustrating. I was actually accredited to go on the Graphic Design Degree course, I was given a place on it without having to apply as my work (and that of a couple of other students) on the Foundation Course was considered to good enough to secure a place.  But shortly before the application deadline we were told that we would have to interview and they turned all of us down.  We subsequently found out that an accredited Foundation course student from the previous year had performed badly on the course and dropped out, so they basically tarred us all with the same brush, which was ridiculous.  They turned down some very talented designers, some of which went onto the degree course at Manchester University.  I actually remember a senior guy from the Art & Design department at Salford, walking round our end of year show, complimenting us on our work... and he couldn't believe that not one of us had been accepted onto the Salford Degree course, it really did stink!  I ended up applying for the HND course at Salford, which I got on too but it didn't turn out to be a good decision.  The first year wasn't great, I didn't really like the course but I stuck with it, but in the second year they changed the course leader, he only last about a month and then for about three or four months they never replaced him - it was unbelievable!  They eventually brought in a part-time tutor to run the course but it was too little too late, the whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth and I ended up leaving after my HND when really I probably should have stayed on for two years to do the Degree course as well but I just had to get out of there!

I came away from there wondering what I'd got from the whole experience and to be honest it wasn't much, I learnt more in one week working alongside a freelance designer on a work placement than I ever did on the course.  The University felt like one big money making machine, everything cost money, it was expensive to park, expensive to eat, you had to pay for paper, for photocopying... you name it.  I don't know what my tuition fee went towards because we didn't have a tutor!