The Click's clever university branding puts the 'I' in identity, individual and Imperial College London

A unified brand was developed for Imperial that appeals to students, academics, and commercial partners across all faculties. The brand portrays cross-learning, collaboration, and innovation, aiming for instant association through a shared visual form and physical footprint. Branding extends into merchandising, including notebooks, hoodies, and mugs, helping brand elements appear in everyday student life. The design process included meeting and interviewing every department across engineering, medicine, and natural sciences, using those inputs alongside visual references and broader research. Some concepts were completed quickly, while others required multiple rounds of refinement and crafting. Each design was signed off by the relevant department together with the central brand team, supporting pride, ownership, and department-specific assets for environmental graphics and digital expression.

"“The primary objective was to create a brand for all - something everyone at Imperial would want to engage with and belong to, from students to academics to commercial partners, across every faculty,” says Bobby. “Just as important: portraying the cross-learning, collaboration and innovation at the heart of Imperial's ethos and global impact.”"

"Whether it's environmental engineering or the study of the heart and lungs, the “creative I” aims to evoke a feeling of instant association whilst visually associating with one another through its physical form and footprint. The branding extends to merchandising too: notebooks, hoodies and mugs, common fixtures of student life - and those elements help to bleed branding into everyday life."

"Impressively, The Click met and interviewed every single department across three facilities: engineering, medicine and natural sciences - and those conversations, coupled with visual references and wider research, informed the design exploration. “Some Creative I designs came together in a single sitting; others took multiple rounds of concepts, refinements and crafting. Each design was collectively signed off by the respective department in conjunction with the central brand team,” says Bobby."

"“As with any branding project we work on, we hope the client's employees, teams and users feel a sense of pride and ownership - but for this project, that objective was even more important,” says Bobby. “Each department has begun to create their own merchandise and embrace department-specific assets for everything from environmental graphics to digital expr"

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