(Click for larger view - Image by Ken Hopson)
In the fall of 1968, the newly formed Virginia Commonwealth University (a merger of the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia) hired the New York marketing and design firm of Schechter and Luth, Inc. to develop an identifying symbol, colors, and names for the University’s campuses. The firm released its findings in January 1969.
The design of the VCU symbol provoked considerable controversy. Some commentators thought it too abstract; others believed that the design should have been created by the school’s own art students. The design itself generated many interpretations. Some saw the tree of knowledge, others discerned the street pattern of the Fan District, and a few even claimed that it resembled a marijuana leaf. University officials stated that the symbol sought mainly to create something new that would unify the two former schools and emphasize the “bold new” character of VCU.
In the late 1990s, the VCU symbol gradually became replaced with a contemporary font that displays the letters VCU and the words Virginia Commonwealth University. But you can still find some places on the Monroe Park campus where the old logo still remains. The image above was created using items from the archives in Special Collections and Archives, VCU Libraries.
-- Ray B.
The design of the VCU symbol provoked considerable controversy. Some commentators thought it too abstract; others believed that the design should have been created by the school’s own art students. The design itself generated many interpretations. Some saw the tree of knowledge, others discerned the street pattern of the Fan District, and a few even claimed that it resembled a marijuana leaf. University officials stated that the symbol sought mainly to create something new that would unify the two former schools and emphasize the “bold new” character of VCU.
In the late 1990s, the VCU symbol gradually became replaced with a contemporary font that displays the letters VCU and the words Virginia Commonwealth University. But you can still find some places on the Monroe Park campus where the old logo still remains. The image above was created using items from the archives in Special Collections and Archives, VCU Libraries.
-- Ray B.
