UCLA is the short name for the University of California in Los Angeles, which was established in 1919. It is one of the oldest universities in the United States, and a part of the University of California system, which consists of 10 branches. UCLA was the second branch opened, after the University at Berkeley in 1873.
The University of California Los Angeles offers 337 undergraduate and graduate programs in 130 fields of study with approximately 31,000 undergraduate and 13,000 graduate students. UCLA is one of the most sought-after and prestigious universities in the United States: it has been a member of the Association of American Universities since 1974.
UCLA is known for its humanities, mathematics, engineering, computer science, and medical departments. Along with Yale, Boston, and Harvard Universities, the University of California at Los Angeles is a member of the prestigious international group of Universities Research Association.
The humanities disciplines, particularly geography, linguistics, sociology, and English literature, are the strongest UCLA departments, which take the leading positions in the international rankings. Another strong direction of the university is the Electronic Engineering program, which is ranked in the world’s top 5. The UCLA School of Medicine also stands out from other UCLA departments due to its high research citation index scores.
What is UCLA?
UCLA, or the University of California in Los Angeles, is one of the oldest and most reputable universities in the USA, which was established in 1919, and is a part of the University of California educational system, which is composed of ten units.
In terms of visual identity, the University of California in Los Angeles uses two official logos and the historical seal. The primary logo of UCLA is a clean and stable sans-serif lettering in the uppercase, while the second one is the smooth and bold script lettering. All three main elements of the UCLA visual identity use the same blue and white color palette, which is sometimes accompanied by yellow gold tones.
The UCLA logo, used by the University in the 1960s, featured a bright script lettering in blue with a bold yellow outline. The letters were written in medium-thick lines, in the title case, and the tail of the “A” elongated and stretched under the whole inscription, slightly pointing down at the end.
The redesign of 1978 has introduced a refined and emboldened version of the UCLA badge, keeping the blue and yellow color palette and the smooth script style of the lettering. The lines of the characters got thicker and Gaines some curves on their ends, while the tail of the “A” was significantly cut. The logotype was now set in a 3/4, with wide blue shadowing around the yellow letters.
In the 1990s the University of California in Los Angeles started using a strict serif inscription in the uppercase, executed in yellow color and placed on a solid blue horizontally oriented rectangular. For the athletic program of the university, the blue banner was accompanied by the blue “Bruins” lettering, set under it in elegant serif and underlined by a blue horizontal line.
The iconic blue script logotype was returned to the UCLA visual identity in 1996. The inscription got cleaned and refined, with the elongated tail of the “A” getting wider, and going more down. The yellow outline of the characters got narrower, but now the letters were surrounded by solid black shadow, which added volume to the logo. For the athletic program, the “Bruins” in the uppercase of a massive square serif font was written over the tail of the “A” in bright yellow.
The redesign of 2017 has introduced a simplified version of the UCLA script logotype, with the flat blue lettering set on a transparent background without any yellow details. The contours of the letters look very neat and clean, and the tail of the last letter is now regularly short.
The primary institutional logo is very simple. It features the capitalized letters “UCLA” in blue. Each of the glyphs is given in the same type and size as the rest of the line.
This logotype exists in three versions: the letters can stand alone, be boxed, or be accompanied by yellow dots. When the letters stand alone, they are given in blue, while the background is white. Alternatively, the white lettering can be placed in a blue or black box. Additionally, the logotype may be adorned with the so-called molecule design. It suggests placing two yellow dots before and after the lettering.
The playful and friendly UCLA script logo was first introduced at the beginning of the 1920s and hasn’t changed much by today. It is a title-case inscription in bold cursive with elongated and curved tails of the bars in “U” and “C”. The logotype can be seen in blue on white or written in blue and yellow. Sometimes, for a stronger contrast, the lettering is shadowed with thick black lines.
The historical seal of UCLA features a circular shape and has an open book with the letter “A” in the upper left corner, as the central element. The book is enclosed in a rounded frame, made up of ribbons with the name of the university written on them. Another ribbon is placed at the bottom of the book’s pages, and has the UCLA motto, “Let There Be Light” written on it in the uppercase of a simple sans-serif font. Above the book, there is a sharp five-pointed star, with many thin lines coming out of it diagonally.
The current athletic emblem features a UCLA script in blue against the white background. The script can be given with a white outline on the blue or gold background.
The school uses the Karbon font for its printed materials. The UCLA logo is given in another typeface, though. It is a clean and modern sans serif type with the distinctive “A” featuring a sharp vertex. Both the primary and secondary logos are given in custom typefaces.
The University of California’s signature colors is blue and gold. The bright and vivid shade of the UCLA gold (Hex: #FFE800) symbolizes the legendary California poppy and sunsets. The dark azure shade of blue (Hex: #3284BF) represents the ocean and the wildflowers typical for the state. The hues have not stayed the same throughout the school’s history. The blue color, for instance, has varied from the sky to royal.