Brigham Young University (BYU) is an institution of higher education in the United States, which was founded in 1875 in Provo, Utah. It is currently ranked 1001st in the QS World University Rankings. This private, non-profit university is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and operates under the auspices of the Church Educational System.
Brigham Young University, founded in 1875 in Provo, Utah, USA, can be safely categorized as a prestigious private, non-profit institution of higher education. In fact, BYU is a permanent member among the top 5% of the world’s best educational institutions, according to international rankings. The original mission of BYU was to make the world a better place, and Brigham Young University values its historical and cultural heritage. And these two indicators – progressive approach and loyalty to the roots – are perfectly combined in the official logo of the university.
Brigham Young University has about 198 majors at the undergraduate level, 113 graduate majors, 96 master’s majors, and 30 doctoral majors. There are branches of the university in different states – Idaho, Texas, Arizona, Utah and California. Today BYU has more than 30 thousand undergraduate students and 3053 master’s, postgraduate, and other graduate students. As of 2024, Brigham Young University is ranked 1001 in the QS World University Rankings.
The brand identity of Brigham Young University (BYU) includes a variety of symbols, from the BYU monogram to the sailor cougar. In mid-2019, the university launched a major brand research project involving a variety of activities, from interviews and focus groups to a perceptions study. The refined visual identity is supposed to represent the main values of the educational institution, emphasizing its ability to evolve and confidently look into the future.
What is BYU?
BYU is an abbreviation standing for Brigham Young University, a private educational institution located in Provo, Utah. Founded in 1875 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and originally called Brigham Young Academy after its second president, a Mormon, today this university is the second largest private institution in the United States.
In terms of visual identity, Brigham Young University follows a proven path of modesty, stability, and elegance. Both its primary logo and the seal, executed in one style and color palette, evoke a sense of excellence and professionalism.
The primary logo of Brigham Young University is composed of a massive BYU monogram in navy blue, written in a brutal yet sleek serif typeface with extra-thick bars and thin and short, barely visible serifs. The monogram is placed against a white background above the two-leveled lettering with the full name of the university. This additional inscription is set in the same shade of blue, yet uses a different font — a lightweight serif with elegant tails of the lines and sharp details.
The official Seal of Brigham Young University is used along with the BYU primary logo and is as recognizable as it is. The navy blue and white color palette is extended for the seal, with two delicate golden rings added to both sides of a solid blue frame of the roundel. The BYU monogram in the center of the seal is written in the same style as on the primary badge of the university, and the additional white inscritos around the frame of the medallion are written in white, using the same stem as the additional inscritos on the official badge.
The central part of the composition is enclosed between two thin gold horizontals and accompanied by an elegant blue “1875” date mark at the bottom, and uppercase “Founded” on top.
The school’s brand guidelines point out there are three typefaces recommended for use in the identity marks: Ringside, Vitesse, and Requiem. The logos themselves, however, feature different fonts. In the case of the primary logo, for instance, we can see a clear font with elegant thin serifs. The block BYU sports a slab serif font, while the font of the Ringside wordmark is a minimalistic sans.
The main color of the BYU logo is navy (Pantone: 648, HEX #002E5D), which is featured on the white background (HEX #FFFFFF). While the palette also includes royal blue (Pantone: 2935, HEX #0062B8), it’s used in different circumstances than navy. The royal is used in the wordmarks of campus entities to create the distinction between the name of the entity (which is given in royal) from the primary logo of BYU (which is given in navy). Royal can’t be included in the primary logo.