SINGAPORE: The newly released logo of the soon-to-open University of the Arts (UAS) has been met with brickbats online, with several Singaporeans asserting that it is ironic for the logo of an arts university to suffer from a lack of creativity.
UAS is Singapore’s first and only arts university and was founded on an alliance of Singapore’s pioneering and leading arts institutions, LASALLE College of the Arts (LASALLE) and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA).
The government-supported university is set to welcome its first batch of students in August 2024.
The logo, which was unveiled by Education Minister Chan Chun Sing on Wednesday (May 10), features just the letters “U”, “A” and “S” tilted in different directions.
UAS said that the logo represents the “dynamic spirit of an arts education and its nature to never stand still” and is deliberately designed to be versatile so that it can be “dynamically reconfigured into various different permutations” to reflect the “dynamism of an arts education”.
The logo swiftly drew sharp criticism after arts writer Ong Sor Fun posted it on social media. Several netizens agreed with Mr Ong, who said that he had no words to describe the logo.
One commenter, David Liew, suggested that the design does not bode well for the future of UAS as it went to an external agency to come up with the controversial final logo. He wrote:
“It’s supposed to be the apex of both art schools – and they had to go to an EXTERNAL agency (with a very odd name) to get THIS outcome? Bodes well for their future … not?”
Another netizen, Angela Lau, said: “For an arts university, I would expect a logo with creativity, visual appeal and possibly provocative/clever. This looks like something a Pri School child submits as last minute typography homework, while playing with a protractor.”
Facebook user Ian Sturrock jibed: “I am assuming they wanted it to communicate “bland corporate entity, desperately trying to be cool and relevant.”
More prominent Singaporeans have also weighed in on the logo online. Poking fun at the slogan “Uncover your creative potential” that is prominent on UAS’ website home page, poet and literary critic Gwee Li Sui said:
“LOL Both the logo and slogan sibeh cannot make it… for an ARTS university. I’m sure I’m not in a minority for thinking this – so please dun shoot the honest poet.”
Prominent television host Anita Kapoor said, “Someone got a rude shock uncovering their creative potential,” while journalist Kirsten Han pointed out, “pls i am a design school dropout but if you really cmi nowsdays got this thing called canva”
Perhaps the strongest criticism has come from designers. Zulkarnain Hassan said on Facebook: “Being a design practitioner, this is a very generic lazy effort. I get it that A is the trying to express creativity and maybe vision with the ‘witty’ arrangements but do they need to have the letter S be in different orientation as well?”
He added, “It’s a bit of a mess, and another user friendly sans serif font to be used for everything, why not. Don’t forget to use colour blocking cos it’s artistic, we want to look like a museum for Piet Mondrian. Wonder how long it took to come out with this brilliant identity.”
Another designer, however, suggested that the result could have been due to the constraints UAS gave the people who came up with the logo.
Facebook user Ledi Ledi said: “please don’t blame the designer who designed the logo, maybe the client didnt like the original logo he/she designed (put in lots of effort) for the school, the client picked the ugliest one 🤣 or asked the designer to make 182628181827261 revisions. HAHA”