Branding in higher education - testing the effectiveness of corporate visual identity

Research in environmental psychology indicates that characteristics of a setting (e.g. a room) are  transferred to a person in that setting. Thus, an executive office conveys social standing,  intelligence, and power upon its occupant. The effect has not been investigated for other forms of  implicit communication, such as Corporate Visual Identity CCVI>. This research project investigates  the effects of CVI upon person perception, using similar methods to those originally employed in  this field. Its focus is upon CVI systems applied to universities and their effect upon lecturers  associated with it. This is a live research project involving a Public University in Malaysia, the  Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris CUPSI> or Sultan Idris Education University. The main intention  is to rebrand and therefore to reposition the university via a new CVI and other devices. This is a  mixed methods research; qualitative methods were used during the preliminary stage to support  design development of the new CVI, and later two of the CVI including traditional (heraldry) and  modern logo were tested using a quantitative survey. The results indicate a positive association  for heraldry in relation to perceived intelligence and trustworthiness, providing substantiation of the 'CVI Effect'.