University of Limerick Refresh

The University of Limerick is an independent, internationally-focused University in Ireland with 15,000 students and 1,528 staff. Established in 1972, the University of Limerick has repeatedly been ranked in the world’s top 100 young universities. The University’s mission is to be a distinctive, pioneering and connected university that shapes the future through educating and empowering people to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

Situated on the picturesque River Shannon in the mid-west of Ireland, it is a young, energetic and enterprising university with a proud record of innovation in education and excellence in research and scholarship. The University of Limerick’s brand had not been refreshed since its origin in 1989, however in 2019, we were tasked with developing a strong brand proposition and visual identity to future-proof the university and to represent it to its many audiences in the most compelling and consistent manner.

The brand positioning process identified University of Limerick as university that thinks and does differently to shape and create a better world. The university acts with confidence, boldness, ambition and integrity. Our challenge was to refresh the current identity that has been in place since 1989 - keeping the charges within the coat of arms intact while also depicting a bold, dynamic, future-facing University. To achieve this, we re-rendered the charges within the existing coat of arms in a simpler, more fluid and contemporary way. We introduced two further elements that speak to University today and to the future. The addition of water is a nod to the University’s stunning physical landscape and the river Shannon but also symbolic of a fluid adaptive approach to education. We also included the iconic flags that grace the entrance of the campus that are flying towards the future. We chose the colour green for the identity as it is also a natural fit due to University of Limerick’s green campus and also no other Irish University currently uses green. The new visual language is inspired by a truly unique campus. Shapes depicting the architecture on campus combined with organic patterns representing the physical landscape. The brand has been designed to depict a bold, dynamic university that is doing, acting and being different.