Sub brands

Sub brands are used when a specific part of York St John University needs its own recognisable identity whilst at the same time needs to retain a link to the main York St John University brand. 

Sub brands include a logo and, if required, also include an accent colour and/or pattern. 

We have sub brands for: 

• Academic Schools 
• Campuses (London and the York St John University Sports Park)
• Research groups and centres 
• Community projects 
• Services (such as YSJ Active or Library and Learning Services) 

If you need access to the logo for one of these services, please email designers@yorksj.ac.uk 

When is a sub brand required? 

We take a lot of different factors into consideration when deciding if a specific sub brand is required. These factors include: 

• Who the target audience is. For example, students, staff, applicants, or the wider York community. 
• How extensively any sub brand would be used
• How long any sub brand  would  be used for
• What promotional materials the sub brand would feature on. For example, leaflets, posters, web content, signage, social media.
• Whether there is an existing, established sub brand that the materials required could fit under.  

It’s important that any new sub brands are carefully considered. If we have too many different sub brands with their own individual identities and logos, it reduces the likelihood that the specific target audiences will recognise them and know what they stand for. 

We therefore try to limit the number of new sub brands created, and may often recommend using an existing, already established sub brand when possible. For example, we would not advise creating a new sub brand for a one-off event within an academic School. This is because the School sub brand is already established and an individual event will have too short a lifespan to establish brand recognition.  

What do York St John University sub brands look like? 

Sub brands benefit from being visibly connected to the  York St John University master brand, because this logo and visual style are now well established and widely recognised. As a result of this, the master brand has high levels of brand awareness and in turn sub brands benefit from this through what’s known as a “halo effect”. This is when smaller, less well-known sub brands benefit from association with a more established brand.  

This means that when we create new logos and styles for sub brands, we make sure they always retain elements of the York St John University master brand, so they benefit from this wider brand recognition and credibility. 

We do this by: 

• Using the same font as the master brand
• Including the words “York St John University” within the specific sub brand wherever possible. 
• Using the line element from the master brand
• Keeping the colour scheme mostly black and white to match the master brand although sometimes an accent colour is also included

We do however recognise that sub brands may want an element of individuality and personality within their logos, and so we can also include: 

• An icon to the left of the line, where the “Est. 1841” date sits in the master brand logo
• An accent colour 

The logo for the York Centre for Writing below illustrates how we can achieve this. The Centre is an example of a sub brand which is proudly part of the University, while at the same time having its own identity and personality reflected in the logo. 

Download the image description for this example:  Image description - Sub brand construction example (doc, 113KB)

Categories of sub brand 

School logo

These logos are created using a solid black background with white type. The core logo is used and the ascending centre line is extended to create an anchor for the school name under an additional line.

Centre logo

These logos are created by replacing the core text from the main logo with the centre's name, and adding a relevant icon to the left. The main central line is changed to a colour which can then be included in print or digital assets.

Research group logo

These logos are created using elements from the core logo, while also incorporating colour. Acronyms are always written in full under the main text, to help users understand what they represent.

Student facing logo

These logos are created in a similar style to the school designs, but are black text on white. They use the same layout, with text under the main logo indicating the service.

Updating existing sub brands

The sub brand style shown above is being rolled out for all new sub brand requests. We’re also in the process of working in collaboration with the owners of existing sub brands to develop new versions, to create greater consistency in how we represent the University visually. This is very much an ongoing process, so you may still see some sub brands around the University which don’t look part of this overall style.

If you would like to talk to us about updating an existing sub brand, we would be happy to help with this. Please contact designers@yorksj.ac.uk to do this.

Requesting a new sub brand

If you would like to request a new sub brand, please contact designers@yorksj.ac.uk. We meet on a monthly basis to consider new requests and decide whether we recommend creating a new sub brand, using an existing sub brand, or

If you’ are submitting a request, please give us as much information as possible about:

• What your project is
• How this sub brand would be used
• Where the sub brand would feature
• Who the target audience is