Innovation by design - Centre for Design Innovation

A brand is not a logoMcCormack remembers “when theevidence came in; when we laid out allthe prospectuses; when we looked atthe photographs our first-year studentstook; and the signage; that was themoment. The user perception of IT Sligowas one thing. Our perception of IT Sligowas something different. We didn’t knowwhat our message was.” The project teamwas convinced this wasn’t just about theregistrar’s department anymore andbrought members of the ExecutiveCommittee to a brand workshop inDublin to introduce them to the concept.The registrar’s team pulled together aroom displaying all the research that hadbeen done to date for a presentation.Photos lined the walls. All the collateralfrom the college was pulled together.One member of the Executive remarkedwhile walking around the room, “Thisis unbelievable. I’m thirty years in thisbusiness and if you can change me,you can change anyone.” The collegecommitted to the project and an initialbudget of €50K to create the new brand.“The fact that we could get togetherand make a case to the Executive, wasquite an achievement (for the team) inthe current environment. Here we werein the public sector talking about brandin front of the Executive Committee. Itwas quite a significant step forward.”Design Associate Gavin Pryke wasdetermined for the college to find theright agency and after short-listingfive agencies out of 19 submissions,arranged visits to all of them with a teamfrom the college.Catherine Kennedy, of the Director’soffice, was assigned as Project Manager.“The normal tendering process is youget the documents in and you pick fromthose. We could have gone ahead anddone that without advice (from theCentre). However, we learned an awfullot from going to visit the companies..We are very happy with the company wechose, and we probably wouldn’t haveselected them had we not gone to seethem. On paper you get caught up onthe price.”“The turning point was when the agencysaid ‘you’ve got to be brave.’ That wasit. This company had the right attitude.”Conor Clarke, Director of Design Factory,remembers saying those words but alsorecalls that “somehow they arrived at ourdoorstep with an open mind. Normallypeople come in the door and are closedabout the possibilities. It allowed us tochallenge them even more.”36|37 CASE STUDY FOUR: T h e I n s t i t u t e o f T e c h n o lo g y S l i g o