A bridge between civilisations
With a heritage of excellence dating back to the 12th century, Sorbonne Université Paris serves as one of the world’s most prestigious beacons of enlightenment. Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi has sought to continue this pursuit of excellence since being established in 2006, and asked Eleven to help them rebuild a fractured and tired visual identity.
World-class education
With 760 years of academic heritage and excellence as support, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi is located within a state-of-the-art campus on Reem Island Abu Dhabi and offers the very best in international higher education to students from the UAE and around the world. We’ve enjoyed a long term relationship with the university dating back to 2015, when we were approached to help them clarify and update their visual identity across all brand communications.
Visual identity
Eleven were given the freedom to completely rethink and reform the way in which the university was being represented through its brand communications. A comprehensive brand review allowed both Eleven and Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi to understand what was required in order to clearly express the nature of its curriculum across all aspects of its visual identity including content, messaging, all brand communications and a new website.
The identity at work
We were able to produce a flexible brand platform from which all programmes, faculty and events could express a unique identity through an adaptable visual identity system. An iconography suite was developed to represent all programmes of undergraduate and postgraduate study.
A comprehensive brand guideline document was developed to ensure clarity and consistency across all channels of communication within the university. A fresh and extensive colour palette was introduced to aid differentiation across all internal and external brand communications, together with a photography style that celebrates students and the coming together of cultures.
Digital transformation
Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi had an existing website which was visually tired. With over complicated navigation and hard to find content, we sought to completely overhaul the university’s online experience. Taking a mobile-first approach, Eleven needed to ensure the user-experience was practical, experiential and responsive across all devices.
All content was completely re-written and broken down into an easy to digest and visually engaging format. To facilitate the uptake of this new content, fluid design elements and responsive navigation enabled us to expose more users to the information they required quickly and in some instances, may not have otherwise found on the old website.
What we did
- Brand communications
- Brand review
- Content strategy
- Copywriting
- Digital design
- Employee engagement
- Environmental design
- Experience innovation
- Messaging
- Moving image
- Packaging
- Visual identity
- Website design
