OPINION: Can UB and UBa do something about those their annoying logos? Please!
By Hans Ngala
Cameroon’s two top Anglo-Saxon universities i.e. the University of Buea (UB) and the University of Bamenda (UBa) are the pride of the English-speaking population of Cameroon. Modelled on the British system of education, their admissions procedures only make room for the brightest and most academically-qualified candidates in the various schools of these institutions.
There is just one issue that is nagging to me and for the life of me, I do not understand why the communications units of both universities have not done anything about it. Yes you guessed it – those annoying and visually boring logos.
The logos of both universities are a lazy attempt at capturing the feel of both environments where they are located. That of the University of Buea is a circle with the words “University of Buea” on the top part and the French equivalent at the bottom. There is what appears to be two elephant tusks on both sides, birds flying above and an open book.
That of the University of Bamenda is similar. A circle with the words “University of Bamenda” ontop and the French translation below. There is a background of rolling green hills behind and an open book.
Anyone with common sense gets what the designers are trying to convey, but at a time when most of our Cameroonian youth are great artists and graphic designers, these kinds of poorly-designed logos are an embarrassment to us and to them.
It is high time UB and UBa placed public bids for graphic designers to re-design their logos to meet 21st century standards instead of having what looks like logos from the 1970s in this age of digital transformation.
There are many talented young Cameroonian graphic designers who will do a stellar job in designing befitting logos for UB and UBa.
And the reason is not just to have a fancy logo for the sake of it but to have a logo that makes it hard to replicate like the current logos which can be easily forged and certificates forged without easily being traced.
