The Hebrew University of Jerusalem by Arielle Shekel of Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Jerusalem

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CLIENT

Estab­lished in 1925, it is Israel’s first and most pres­ti­gious uni­ver­si­ty and its lead­ing research institution—it is ranked inter­na­tion­al­ly among the 100 lead­ing uni­ver­si­ties. Its audi­ence is poten­tial and present stu­dents, researchers, fac­ul­ty, alum­ni, and donors.

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BRIEF

To rebrand the Hebrew Uni­ver­si­ty which regards itself as a sym­bol of Israeli cul­ture, as an edu­ca­tor of Israel’s future gen­er­a­tion and as Israel’s largest cen­ter of knowl­edge. How­ev­er all this is often obscured due to HUJI’s con­tro­ver­sial loca­tion on the bor­der of East and West Jerusalem, an archa­ic per­cep­tion amongst young Israelis, mul­ti­ple cam­pus­es and fac­ul­ties, and an obso­lete and incon­sis­tent appearance.

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APPROACH

Due to the Uni­ver­si­ty’s sig­nif­i­cant his­to­ry, the ini­tial approach was to research the design her­itage of the insti­tu­tion. Upon dis­cov­er­ing its rich and neglect­ed graph­ic lega­cy, it became clear that the design con­cept should revive the beau­ti­ful typog­ra­phy and aes­thet­ic of the past, while cre­at­ing a new and inno­v­a­tive iden­ti­ty. The his­toric sym­bol was geo­met­ri­cal­ly decon­struct­ed and new col­ors were assigned cre­at­ing a fresh and updat­ed sym­bol, graph­ic sys­tem, and visu­al lan­guage that com­bines old and new, past, present, and future.

Arielle Shekel’s branding project is rare in both its range and depth. Her choice to brand the Hebrew University, an immense, dated, and complex institution is not to be overlooked. It is an important and meaningful aspiration. Arielle approached the branding of the University in order to examine and make a statement about the Israeli visual space and culture, and its potential. Based on serious and substantial design research, while simultaneously analyzing and respecting history—the history of The University, and the history of Israeli graphic design—Arielle created a contemporary, flexible, and original visual design system. — Adi Stern, Head of the Visual Communication Department at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem