Douglas College brand

What is our brand?

We say that our logo, typeface and colours, along with the words and images in our messages, are components of our brand. As symbols, those things can do a lot to help people understand what makes Douglas College special: our high quality programs, our passionate teachers and our supportive student services.

But our brand really goes much deeper than those symbols.

Our brand is people’s overall sense of the experience of being at Douglas. It lives in the hearts and minds of students, prospective students, alumni, faculty, staff and others. It's continuously created and supported by the skilled, passionate teachers in our classrooms, and by the knowledgeable, dedicated staff in our service areas.

Our brand package emerged from deep listening and engagement with students, faculty and staff, through focus groups and an online forum. This information, filtered and condensed, went into a survey completed by more than 1,000 current students. That led to preliminary creative work, which was tested in another survey with current and prospective post-secondary students across the Lower Mainland.

This is what we heard: students want a stimulating and smart learning environment. They want to be encouraged to be creative, engage with new ideas, and experience new things. They’re motivated to learn about themselves and find their passion. They’re building a story of their lives in which they imagine themselves doing what they love, being good at it, and making a difference in the world.

Douglas College is really good at supporting students in their educational journey, and our branding material is designed to support that message.

Logo and wordmark

Logo only:

Wordmark only:

Logo and wordmark combined:

Our logo takes advantage of the fact that 5 of the 7 characters in the word “Douglas” have rounded shapes that reflect human-like qualities. That’s fortunate, because Douglas is about people. It’s a student-centred place.

The word “Douglas” also contains the word “DO” which is fantastic because we’re all about doing things, and applying knowledge. We’re real, and grounded.

In the logo and the wordmark, letters are brought close together to reflect belonging, connectedness and engagement. In other words, community. In the wordmark, the two words “Douglas” and “College” are brought together and given different weights, to create some interesting tension.

The logo plays with typography and shifts some of the letters around. It gets your imagination working in a way that’s stimulating and playful at the same time. As your mind engages with the partially deconstructed word, you can see any number of shapes and meanings. You certainly see “DO” and you might notice the “OUA” forming a stylized figure, a student, right at the centre.

The logo and wordmark are mashable and maleable. They can be separated for different applications. Parts of the logo can be extracted and given different graphic treatments. It’s a modern and progressive approach, yet grounded in our history as a community, access-based institution.

Our colours are black, white and silver, with a warm green as an accent colour.

Our headline typeface is Bau.

Key message

DO what you love.

At Douglas, a good career means loving what you do and being good at it. You can get started today through our degree, career and university transfer programs.

Brand promise

No matter who you are or where you are in life, at Douglas College you can discover what you love to do – and be good at it.

Core identity

Douglas College is a degree-granting college emphasizing personal and career growth through academic exploration. We believe the definition of a good career is loving what you do and being good at it. Here, we’ll help you uncover new passions, new strengths and new dreams. We’ll push you to be better and give you the support to learn, grow and become what you’ve always wanted to be.

Why Douglas?

Douglas is one of the best places in Canada to help you do what you love – and be good at it. Our open, supportive atmosphere encourages academic exploration, so you can find the right fit for a great career. Respected internationally, but grounded in the local community, you know that when you go to Douglas you’re on the right path – wherever yours may lead.

Simple story identity

Love what you DO. Be good at it.

That’s how Douglas College defines a great career.

What will you DO?

Answering that important question can be hard. That’s why we encourage you to explore, and discover new passions, new strengths and new dreams. We promise to support you, and to push you to learn, grow and become what you’ve always wanted to be.

Extended story identity

What will you DO?

At Douglas, we know that what you do matters. It’s the first question people ask you and one of the first you ask of yourself. What you do helps define you. And loving what you do, we believe, defines a great career.

What we do is help you get there. Here, we encourage academic exploration to help you uncover your passions, strengths and dreams. And no matter who you are or where you are in life, you’ll feel welcome. We believe this commitment to openness has created one of the most progressive learning environments in the country.

This is a place where your assumptions will be challenged. A place where you’ll be immersed in a culture of ideas and you’ll develop the confidence to express your own. We’ll push you to be better and give you the support to learn, grow and become what you’ve always wanted to be.

At Douglas, being one of the best colleges in Canada isn’t just talk – it’s something we work at every single day. It’s just what we love to do.

The DO campaign

Douglas is a place of doing. Here, we don’t just talk, we do – through applied research, international opportunities and hands-on learning. We’re a community of engaged citizens, with each other and, increasingly, with the world. The fact that “DO” is built into our name, well, just call it kismet. James Douglas himself was a doer. We think he’d approve.

Our brand campaign invites prospective students to “DO what you love and be good at it.”

Can you think of a better definition of a great career? Politicians and pundits may talk about how people go to college to get a job, but we know that people really go to college to get the right job. The one that sings to them. The one that challenges them and defines them. We think that Douglas is one of the best places anywhere to find that fit. And that’s pretty awesome.