NORTH BATTLEFORD — North West College, which has campuses in North Battleford and Meadow Lake, is looking into changing its logo and branding to better reflect the college’s offerings, important role in the region and future goals.
On Aug. 26, the college held a focus group with community members to gather input on the idea.
“The branding is inclusive of the logo, but it’s also looking more broadly at the imagery, the messaging, the perception of the college,” president and CEO Eli Ahlquist told SaskToday.
He said he heard some interesting ideas from the focus group.
“We had some really good conceptual ideas around what does the college mean, and we had some really good conversations around reflecting what this college can mean for a person, whether that’s on their personal journey or their educational journey, just that involvement or the opportunities that the college brings,” Ahlquist said.
The branding update also aims to reflect the college’s growth and new developments, including new programs, renovated and newly constructed learning spaces such as the health-care simulation labs, new programming at the Frontier Mall location in North Battleford, and the ultimate goal to develop a new campus in the Battlefords.
“Our current logo and branding is recognizable in our community, but we have heard from community members and students that the current logo elements and symbolism is being lost in translation,” Ahlquist said in the release. “We want to ensure that we work collaboratively with our community members to renew the visual identity of the college with design elements that they feel represent them and our region and set the stage for the exciting developments that are happening at the college. Your future starts at North West College, and our branding should also represent an exciting future for each of our students and alumni.”
North West College is currently completing a community consultation process on its branding, which will include stakeholder groups and the wider community. It has already engaged with domestic and international students, staff and instructors, First Nations communities and leadership, and other post-secondary institutions.
Plans are to have the rebranding completed in the coming months.
“This is also an exciting year for us. We’re going into our 50th year as a regional college as well,” Ahlquist said. “So we’re hoping to get this rolled out hopefully sometime in the fall.”
