Summer 2010 Extra

UMMGC Key Redesigned

Dear Brothers in Song,

Greetings from Ann Arbor, where all three verses of The Yellow and Blue continue to resonate on campus after our most memorable weekend together. On behalf of the members of the current Men's Glee Club, I want to thank all of you who joined us for a spectacular 150th anniversary celebration, one that has been truly inspirational to us.

As we move forward with the next 150 years, I wanted to let you know of a modest change in our key logo that the Club has been working on this past semester. As a result of a request from the University in 2009, MGC has revised its logo to come into compliance with official uses of the Block M. In recent years all sponsored student organizations have been asked to help the university maintain a consistent "brand" and look. The new logo, designed by our own Erik Bagaglia (Class of 2011), is attached.

Lee Doyle, Chief of Staff for the Office of the Vice President for Communications and Ruth Gretzinger of the University's Michigan Marketing & Design unit graciously walked us through the process of changing something that we knew was very meaningful both to us and to our alumni. Ms. Doyle writes:
“The question was how to bring the Glee Club logo closer to the University's consistent visual identity, and yet maintain the sense of tradition. With that in mind, we proposed a few changes that would bring the mark within our guidelines, such as removing the words within the Block M.”
As you look at the revised logo, you'll notice that we've added "Men's" to "Glee Club" (there was no Women's Glee Club back in the day!), moved "Men's Glee Club 1859" from inside the M to outside the M, and moved the musical notes from in front of the M to behind the M.

Ms. Doyle continues: “We have made an exception to our rule of conforming the letter M to particular dimensions, and have allowed a more thin and vertical version here. A hundred years ago, this elongated 'M' was a common variation. We thought its continued use would evoke the sense of longevity.”

The process was a challenging one for many of us, as our key is something that holds special meaning for both current students and alumni. Not surprisingly, many of us were very resistant even to consider a change. We decided in the end that it was critical to comply with the guidelines of the University we love, and that we would use this as an opportunity to spring forward into the future while honoring our past as much as possible.

We are extremely grateful that the University granted us a year's grace period in implementing the new logo (so we could enjoy our 150th with the one we knew and loved), offered several designs of their own, welcomed design ideas from current students, and granted us an exception to their normal request to use the current, official Block M. At our final banquet this year the members of the Club evaluated 16 designs from University officials as well as current Clubbers, and voted on Erik's submission.

We are thrilled with our new logo and we hope you are too. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions or comments. Thanks for all you do for us and we look forward to seeing you at Cottage Inn or Hill Auditorium in the near future.

In Tradition, Camaraderie and Musical Excellence,

Paul
rardinp@umich.edu

(A high-quality version of the key can be found here. -jw)