New Purpose of Perm Polytech

Radical changes brought about by globalization and rapid advancement in technologies set higher standards in education and make universities rethink their position towards students, society, and the world. In this context, technical educational institutions take on particular significance.

Challenge

The Perm National Research Polytechnic University is one of the leading Russian technical universities that provide human resources to manufacturers of the entire country. It was actively engaged in Russian nationwide programs aimed to support the best universities. With the emergence of new challenges that call for global vision, Perm Polytech found itself in the need for changes in strategy, corporate culture, and positioning.

Solution

PricewaterhouseCoopers was developing new strategy for Perm Polytech and hired our agency for brand consulting. We created a new brand with a focus on development of versatile personality and training leaders for the fast-paced world.

Inspired by science and creativity, Perm Polytech molds leaders for the fast-paced world, which is reflected in brand's proposition: «Freedom to create your own world». Perm Polytech is a space for creativity, where students learn self-expression through academic disciplines in order to build their own path to achievements and contribute to the development of society.

The target audience of Perm Polytech rebrand were high school graduates (as potential students) student body, faculty and administration, industrial partner-companies (as potential employers), as well as the Russian government that oversees and supports the best universities. The brand vision, mission and values that we have developed address every target audience of the brand.

We have also created new brand names and developed new brand architecture to show the large scale of Perm Polytech and emphasize on the wide range of opportunities it provides.

Following the new philosophy, we created a design that is based on the idea that Perm Polytech is a creative environment where students learn how to express themselves through academic subjects in order to pave their own path to success and to contribute to the common good.

All these values are reflected in the new brand design, including square shapes, lines, geometric grotesque of the fonts and chromatic color palette complimented with abstract pixelated pattern.

The new logo consists of a black square with each side being a definition for determination, focus, pragmatism, and methodical approach to things. A beam of light is emerging from the square center, which symbolizes people, their efforts, and their energy.

Space gray is used as a primary color. Besides being a symbol of infinity, it reflects intelligence and balance.

As a pattern, we propose abstract pixelated shapes in various combinations and color gradations.

As a result of the rebranding, Perm Polytech has a well-structured and straight-forward brand that will help to convey its values to the target audiences and transform the institute's strategy to life. An important goal that the university administration had in mind was to become a well-recognized technical institute in the international academic arena. The university wanted to appeal to international community in its research, citations and percentage of international students. The new brand addresses this challenge: it is multilingual, understandable for all audiences, and is easy to remember.

After making changes to its strategy, Perm Polytech was included in the World University Rankings of Times Higher Education. It also got listed on the Impact Rankings 2020. Also, Perm Polytech entered the top 100 best universities according to Forbes and top 50 most influential universities in Russia.