Sinead Baker | Deputy Online Editor
The winner of the competition for best alternative TCD logo, run on the facebook page ‘Proposed Logos for TCD’ has been announced today. The winning entry, submitted by Conor Walsh, was chosen after those who like the page were invited to vote for their favourite. A category for ‘best doodle’ was also announced, won by Sergey Alifanov.
The founders of the page, who wished to remain anonymous, commented on the winning entries, “Trinity College is certainly divided. The logo competition did not identify a clear favourite when the marginal winner, Conor Walsh, only took home 25.6% of the votes.”
The page was set up as a response to the current rebranding exercise of Trinity College Dublin, in the proposed name change and new logo have been met with criticism by both staff and students. The page was “forced to eliminate one of the logos proposed, due to multiple complaints from distraught students. It turns out that it had been the ‘modern’ College crest as proposed by design agency Huguenot, commissioned by the University Board.”
They were keen to talk about the importance of engagement with both the students and staff of the college, “A final talking point resulting from events of the last several days is the sheer level of affection and support shown towards the College’s executive management, in particular the Provost Patrick Prendergast. This affection was shown mainly by the number of submissions, college crest or otherwise, featuring our favourite Provost. Dr. Geoghegan also commented on the cover photo which featured him in a modern, flattering way, promising to double the prize if the photo won. It did narrowly win in the Best Doodle competition and we are eager to see if the Facebook account was indeed genuine and he will live up to his promise.”
“Unfortunately, a number of submissions had to be declined. Varying from poor quality to academic insignia inspired by the Nationalist Social Workers’ Party of Germany, the inbox has revealed some questionable work, by frankly questionable people. The page has grown pretty fast.. Many auspicious college students to-be commented on how great Trinity was, and that the page had affected their CAO preferences substantially. It’s debatable whether in a good way or not, but it all depends on the definition of ‘good’.”
The founders are not concerned for the future of the rebranding effort in Trinity, “Either way, the student body has spoken and the new crest will replace the old one on all official documents in Trinity. The name ‘Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin’ will be replaced by a concise ‘Collidge’ written in a literally handmade font which will be available in the next version of Microsoft Office.
The page was founded on 8th April and reached over 3,200 likes in 4 days. The development of the page was covered by national media outlets such as The Daily Edge and Newstalk.
They were inspired to set up the page as “an attempt to distract classmates from study and compete for the real prize of passing summer exams on bedrock of three weeks of study”. The page offered an outlet for students to complain about the current rebranding effort of trinity College dublin, , which has been met with complaints from students as college services continue to cut. Students have also voiced their complaints via including an online petition which has received over 1,600 signatures, and a proposed sit-in, which as since been cancelled.
