Bruce Mau and his team will rebrand OCAD

Bruce Mau Design has been given the assignment to re-brand OCAD University (formerly the Ontario College of Art & Design and even before that was simply the Ontario College of Art). OCAD and its design side is the seedbed for much of the art direction and design talent that drives and has driven Canadian magazines.

According to a post on Design Edge Canada's website, Mau's firm was chosen to create a new image for the institution because it demonstrated an understanding of OCADU's values and teaching philosophies.

“Bruce Mau Design are expert collaborators. They demonstrated a strong commitment to work with our community to design the process that will drive the outcome of our partnership, and this is of utmost importance to our stakeholders,” said marketing and communications director Steve Virtue, in the press release. “They implicitly understand OCADU’s rich history, and how our community’s many stories inform the creation of innovating new ideas.”

He'll be charged with coming up with a new image and wordmark which will replace one designed by the well-regarded Toronto design firm Hambly & Woolley in 2005.  (He'll also have his work cut out for him, since the OCAD University handle is an awkward construct.)

Interestingly, Mau once attended OCAD, but left before graduating to join the Fifty Fingers design group, later working at Pentagram in the UK and founding his own firm in 2004. According to a bio on Wikipedia, he served as creative director of I.D. magazine from 1991-93.