The Story of the RMIT pixel

The Story of the Pixel

TEXT ON SCREEN: The story of the RMIT Pixel

AUDIO: Ambient music plays throughout

VISUAL: Various designers are speaking to camera about the evolution of the RMIT pixel, as they speak the video shows cutaways of various versions of the RMIT brand. The cutaways show the brand’s evolution from the days of print and handwritten design to a more modern approach, which includes bright colours and animated versions of the pixel.

MIKE THOMPSON SPEAKS: RMIT have done things a little bit differently.

PETER SORENSON SPEAKS: We wanted to do something that was cut through, that was different that was disruptive, that wasn't the same as other universities really because RMIT was not the same as other universities.

STEPHEN BANHAM SPEAKS SPEAKS: In the case of the RMIT corporate identity it's been updated in a very gentle way. A very playful way and we're very happy with that.

PETER SORENSON SPEAKS: In about 1990, David Beanland, who was Professor with the Vice Chancellor of the university. He approached me and asked me to redesign RMIT's logo.

STEPHEN BANHAM SPEAKS SPEAKS: I'm always very proud of that mark, because it was actually one of the first identities that I'd ever designed as a youPeter Sorenson: ideo shows cutaways oThese were the days of Pacman. That's how we were thinking of computer games, and the idea of technology and people using technology, and putting that with a sense of traditional university captured in the type or the font. I think the longevity of the brand says something about what we achieved in terms of cut-through and differentiation back them.

STEPHEN BANHAM SPEAKS SPEAKS: I think it's fantastic that the pixel has come back to be front and centre of the new brand refresh.

MIKE THOMPSON SPEAKS: Pixel, really, is one of the longest-standing RMIT elements that we've got to play with, and I think the best brands are the ones that evolve and adapt rather than change drastically every time you refresh. I think because there is so much equity in the pixel and the logo is a mark that people recognise and trust. It's simplistic. Something that we really wanted to really play on and bring to the fore and really hero in the design work.

So the way we've used it is to really play with the scale. And, then the simplicity of it means that we can use it in a really adaptful way, and it will work with whatever kind of message or audience they're talking to.

The pixel explosion and the graphic elements that we've used throughout extend that visual language. Came from the brand behaviours about being confident, being provocative. So they're just a way that we can express the brand in a really bold and simple way. They really allow the tone of voice to come to the fore.

STEPHEN BANHAM SPEAKS SPEAKS: We had no idea that it was going to live so long. That it was going to explode into animated form. That it was going to be a tiny responsive mark on an iPhone. So these things you never, every can preempt no matter how much planning you do at that stage. And that's kind of one of the beauties of this.

MIKE THOMPSON: We're pleased that it's lasted. We're pleased that it's been developed. We're pleased that you're continuing to develop.

MIKE THOMPSON SPEAKS: This is really refreshing to work with a team and an institution, I think, that really lives and breathes the purpose and the promises that it's making. So, yeah, it's very refreshing. Really exciting to see it come to life.

AUDIO: Ambient music fades out

[End of Transcript]