On July 1, 2008, the long-awaited new Northwestern College logo made its official, grand debut. The new logo visually reflects Northwestern’s commitment to a wholehearted Christian worldview and academic excellence as well as our distinction as an enriching community engaged in the world.

And to celebrate the occasion we spruced up our website, too.

This is truly an exciting time for Northwestern as we share with the public a logo that strongly represents our heritage and mission and also communicates effectively in today’s visual information age and contemporary marketing environments.

In recent years, President Alan S. Cureton, the college administration and the board of trustees outlined six priority goals. One of them was “to develop and communicate identity” and included establishing a new, consistent “brand” or logo that would accurately convey Northwestern’s values, purpose and progress in the marketplace in a strong and recognizable way.

“We believe the unique, high-quality education Northwestern provides is worthy of an identifiable brand,” said President Cureton. “Corporate identity is the name, face and voice we present to our community. The primary objective of our updated look is to accurately present Northwestern College as a contemporary Christ-centered college with a strong heritage of students ready to light the way in the world.”

Simply put, the logo is the visual representation of our mission, vision and values. We haven’t changed who we are, what we do or believe; we simply have an new visual symbol to help us communicate that message.

“As excited as we are to have the new logo, I believe the greatest symbol of Northwestern is and always has been our people: students, faculty, staff and alumni,” said President Cureton. “They are truly the best representation of all that is Northwestern."

Northwestern College’s new logo was designed by Capsule, a Minneapolis-based design agency, in partnership with Northwestern’s marketing team. There are several messages conveyed intentionally by this strong design:

• The shield represents the shield of faith and academic strength.
• The crown communicates that we are under the crown or Lordship of Jesus Christ. Additionally, the crown evokes a ray of light, which symbolizes the Light of the World and reinforces our mission to “Light the Way.” It’s resemblance to a sunrise reflects that it is, after all, the “dawn” of a new, exciting day at Northwestern.
• The cross, appearing to stand on Calvary’s hill, stands as the symbol that Jesus Christ is at the center of all we do and who we are as individuals and as an institution.
• The letter ‘N’ clearly represents the Northwestern College name and more importantly, our community.

In essence, this logo conveys one, simple message: Northwestern College will always be under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, on the shield of faith.

We believe that this new look will quickly become known “outside the gates” as the visual symbol of Northwestern College’s wholeheartedly Christian and academically advanced education.