December 28, 2004

Dear Colleagues,

We all know the power of effective branding: Pepsi, Nike, IBM and FedEx—names that are synonymous with profitable and dynamic companies. What makes these companies so strong is the strength of their brand, and the visual manifestation of it—their visual identity, or brandmark, what we used to call a logo. Some marks, like Pepsi’s, have undergone minor change over time. Others, like IBM’s, have remained unchanged for decades.

At Hopkins we have not been so diligent about our own brandmark. We currently have two: a triangle and a square. Many people are unclear about which one to use. So we agreed that we will have just one brandmark. Take a look at this PDF document to see the results.

A strong Hopkins brand relies on repeated and consistent use of the brandmark. We are therefore writing now to ask departments and divisions not to create their own logo or other identifying mark, but to embrace the one we have decided will unify all our departments, staff and faculty.

The success of Johns Hopkins Medicine is a result of the outstanding work done by our staff and faculty. And the success of this policy relies on everyone being aware of it. We seek your help by asking you to convey this policy to your staff.

A Web site and graphic standards guide will be available by the end of November to help you and your staff implement our unified visual identity. We have devised a modular system that accommodates entity and department names and examples of how these look are shown on the next page.

We look forward to your cooperation.