Sumus Marketing.
The nation's oldest public school has replaced its old logo - which featured a representation of Romulus and Remus suckling at a wolf - with a 21st-century logo that features the current school building's facade and cupola but has no ties to the language for which the school is named, save the name of the school itself.
The Boston Latin School Association, which represents alumni and parents and raises funds for the school, explains the need for a new logo that shows the uniqueness of the school in a more modern, media-ready format:
The prominent placement of the 1635 founding date on top of the shield became an important feature to signify the unique status of the school in U.S. history. The radiating lines provide visual interest and reaffirm Latin School as a beacon of opportunity in education. The result is The Façade with Cupola logo that conveys the valuable history of Boston Latin School while remaining sleek and modern for ease of representation across all media channels.
The group adds its design firm "began the process with a competitive analysis of brand identities for Latin schools nationwide, local high schools, and those schools that feature a wolf as the team mascot."
In addition to the new logo, the design firm came up with a more stylized wolf's head to represent the BLS Wolfpack sports teams.
The association says the old logo will still be used on certain official school communications and diplomas "at the discretion of BLS/BLSA leadership."
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Comments
Roman numerals going the way
By Don't Tread on Me
Tue, 09/10/2019 - 10:57pm
Roman numerals going the way of cursive writing?
Next thing you know you'll tell me that all those years of Latin and Greek were for nothing.
='(
just wait
By MPM
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 4:20am
The Superbowl will be next.
Maybe I’m crazy
By anon
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 7:00am
But I use Roman numerals a lot.
IV:XX
By Bud
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 1:50pm
IV:XX
A developer in my
By Christine Langhoff
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 9:05pm
A developer in my neighborhood is using the roman numeral for the street address to brand his 17 unit building: LIVPleasant. More than a bit ironic, as folks will be living where no one has in quite sometime. It was a funeral home.
Dumbing down
By Daan
Tue, 09/10/2019 - 11:15pm
Just as The General Dummer School dumbed down to The General Academy, Boston Latin is dumbing itself to the same anodyne, ahistorical and just plain marketable and stupid empty name.
Maybe civilization is falling apart. On the other hand maybe it's about time.
Thank goodness for mortality.
O Tempora! O Mores!
By MostlyHarmless
Tue, 09/10/2019 - 11:55pm
Omnia mutantur, et nos cum illis mutamur. Sed quo usque tandem abutere, Daan, patientia nostra? In Latina scribas? Potes? Si non, quare in hoc modo ululas?
Sic!
By Vicki
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 8:48am
Sic!
Ita, sed...
By YIMBY
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 11:01am
Ita, res mutant. Quae supra: quid vobis videtur?
Dummer
By ljd
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 7:25am
It’s The Governor’s Academy, not The General Academy! And its original name was Dummer Academy, not The General Dummer School. You can see why they changed it... but Daan needs to check his facts. “Ahistorical,” indeed.
Dummer nomenclature
By Scratchie
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 1:50pm
As you say, it was Dummer Academy originally, from 1763 until the 1930's.
In the 30's it became Governor Dummer Academy (not General Dummer), and remained so until it became The Governor's Academy in the 21st Century.
the old logo looks kinda'
By schneidz
Tue, 09/10/2019 - 11:25pm
the old logo looks kinda' perverted.
Thomas Leher dicit:
By MostlyHarmless
Tue, 09/10/2019 - 11:47pm
"For filth (I'm glad to say)
is in the eye of the beholder.
When correctly viewed,
Everything is lewd..."
Lehrer (continued)
By Suldog
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 4:10am
I could tell you things about Peter Pan
And the Wizard of Oz
There's a dirty old man!
Suldog
Genuflect, genuflect.
By Lmo
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 3:31pm
Genuflect, genuflect.
Carefully....Carefully....
By Smart Arse
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 10:06pm
While walking down the street
A porcupine you meet
How'd you shake his hand when he says 'hi?'
Carefully....Carefully....Careful...l-y.
If you see something sexual
By ZachAndTired
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 9:04am
If you see something sexual in two babies eating, I think that says more about you than anything else.
But the wolf is exposing cleavage.
By jmeltzer
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 9:49am
Can't have that!!
fair enuff but if i'm walking
By schneidz
Thu, 09/12/2019 - 7:25am
fair enuff but if i'm walking around union sq. and i see a baby feeding off a pitbull bitch; then, i'm calling department of youth services.
New one's great, though...
By dmcboston
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 2:55pm
[img]https://i.imgur.com/qZeW4rr.jpg[/img]
Graphics Design-wise, yeah
By RhoninFire
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 4:29pm
Graphics Design-wise, yeah you're right, it is a pretty nice logo. It's clean. It's distinctive. It works well in color or black-and-white. It conform beautifully to all the "rules" and "guidelines" decades of graphic design have learned in making a visually good-looking logo.
Yet, it is also "soulless". The logo may not conform to rules. It doesn't cleverly breaks the rules either. But the old logo is a reflection of how it been it's logo from a time before we figured out how to make pretty logo. So to change it should mean there's a good reason. But there isn't. The new logo looks nice, but by conforming to looking like how so many logos look today, it ironically takes way what makes it special. It makes it look just as corporate, soulless, and basic.
Context matters. Yeah, UH have a logo that similarly follow the same design principles. But it doesn't fall in that trap it is not an almost 400 year old institution that suppose to guided by principles of more lofty ideals.
At least they are still using the logo in certain situations. Which, depending on where, can work out pretty well. The new logo for memos and sport uniform type of stuff. The old logo for certain signs and diplomas.
Tell that...
By Lee
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 10:55pm
... to the Romans and you’ll be laughed out of town.
SPQR after all.
As someone who works in BPS...
By anon
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 5:29am
As someone who works in BPS, it makes me so angry that this is a story right now. The fact that BLS has a team of parents dedicated to creating a new logo and releasing an explanation shows how disconnected this school is from the realities of this city.
As someone who went to this
By anon
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 9:25am
As someone who went to this school in the early to mid 80's the school was just as disconnected. Probably more so then than now.
It's the
By Kathode
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 9:31am
Boston Latin School Association. They're the fundraising arm of the school and even have their own employees.
It’s not a team of parents,
By TP
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 9:41am
It’s not a team of parents, it’s the BLSA (the nonprofit group solely dedicated to fundraising for the school) which has its own employees and manages the school’s $50 million endowment.
Oh, yeah, about that endowment
By adamg
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 9:54am
Answers.
The question sounds off...
By anon
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 10:07am
Why ask [i]publicly[/i] elected City Councilors about changing [i]private[/i] fundraising practices?
Because ...
By adamg
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 11:59am
That private money goes into improving a single public school.
Nice try but....
By SumusPrimi
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 3:13pm
The BLSA is governed by bylaws dating back to the late 1800s that state that all funds raised by the BLSA are explicitly for BLS. As a 501c3 raising funds for a specific school with specific purposes, that money cannot be spent elsewhere. And so while it may be politically convenient to urge sharing, it can't.
Really surprised no one has challenged that yet.
By Pete Nice
Thu, 09/12/2019 - 7:47am
I would think they could easily win in court.
Good for Matt O’Malley
By bgl
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 9:53pm
At least Matt O’Malley isn't selling out BLS - sumus primi.
Magoo sez
By MisterMagooForYoo
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 5:30am
Omnis Vir Lupus. Mister au Magoo.
Is this what the BLSA
By anon
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 6:49am
is using its money for? I thought money donated to BLSA was used for the good of the students and school. I don't think the new, bland logo helps the school or its students in any way. Why does the BLSA have anything to do with picking the school's logo? Shouldn't that be the decision of school itself or BPS?
"Loyalty Fund"
By anon
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 9:23am
"I thought money donated to BLSA was used for the good of the students and school. "
When I was at BLS in the early 70s, much of donated monies such as the so-called "loyalty fund" each student was required to give back then, went to then-headmaster Wilfred O"Leary's lavish dinners at the Harvard Club.
Wilfred O'Leary
By Steve Greechie
Sun, 02/02/2020 - 5:41pm
Thank you for your post re Wilfred O'Leary. I've heard about this scandal, but I find nothing about it on the internet. Could you tell me how to find out more about it? When I was at Latin School, in the late 60's, the administration cared nothing about the students beyond college admission. There's more to secondary school administration than that.
wow
By Luke Warmer
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 8:05am
that's horrible bullshit. i feel sorry for the kids--the adults have sold them out to the bland world of eduwhores.
bland corporations, fucking us into submission from cradle to grave. but you at least don't have to goddamn love it so much.
Nice word salad Luke
By Parkwayne
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 4:02pm
Yes, it's terrible how the kids were 'sold out' by having sports, orchestra, theater, etc... thanks to a powerful fundraising operation.
Rage against the machine bro! You've solved it all!
Ickedway artsmay eyelinguistsbay
By Turalura Lipschitz
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 9:09am
.
Did they intentionally go for the online university look?
By redlinerider
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 10:36am
I can see it now: "Boston Latin School is your path to career success! Learn how you can unlock your future by starting your application / credit check online today!" Not exactly befitting for the oldest public school in the country.
I think it has to do with the flat, monocolor design and the fact that light is emanating from a tower.
That's not light
By Sock_Puppet
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 1:56pm
That's the bell.
O tempora! O mores!
By DJS
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 10:44am
Disgraceful.
O tempora! O mores!
By BLS ‘66
Wed, 09/18/2019 - 12:01pm
Exactly ... the same culture that gave us “participation awards” and “no exceptionalism” gives us “just another High School logo” for the oldest, most exceptional public educational institution in the US.
When the City of Boston modernizes its seal, Harvard dumps “Veritas” and Yale modernizes “Urim v’Tumim” (the last two younger than Boston Latin School’s “Romulus & Remus”), then BLSA can argue for such a change ...
As for “The Boston Latin School Association ... explains the need for a new logo ... in a more modern, media-ready format”, how about a pdf of a high res image of R&R? Thank you, I’ll donate my sizable consulting fee to BLSA.
Graduate, BLS ‘66
Half right
By Sock_Puppet
Fri, 09/20/2019 - 12:26pm
Exceptional public high schools:
https://jaymathewschallengeindex.com/public-elites...
https://www.businessinsider.com/best-public-high-s...
BLS is totally the best public high school in the City of Boston, and also the oldest in the country. Most exceptional in the US? Not by any measure. According to some, it's not even the best public high school in the Boston area anymore.
https://www.bostonmagazine.com/best-public-high-sc...
Considering kids have to have high test scores on the ISEE to get in, and continue to do well on tests such as MCAS and SAT, the low rate of success on AP tests represents poor quality instruction at the school.
Times have moved on since 1966. Other schools have too.
Cult of Mediocrity
By Grant Young
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 11:12am
Yeah, no, the building should not be part of the logo. My wallet is now more firmly closed than before. As an alumnus I appreciate the intent of BLSA but its lack of connection to the rest of the Boston Public Schools is getting even worse and getting harder to ignore.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
By bibliotequetress
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 11:48am
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
New logos don't come cheap
By CT
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 12:07pm
How much did it cost? Did someone's parent get the contract for the design?
'The association says the old logo will still be used on certain official school communications and diplomas "at the discretion of BLS/BLSA leadership."' Does that sentence hint that someone was dragged kicking and screaming into supporting this hideousity?
not art
By anon
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 12:09pm
not art
Looks suspiciously like a neighbor's logo
By Jojo
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 1:32pm
https://www.emmanuel.edu
Offensive
By Carmella
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 1:39pm
I’m sure that somehow, somebody found a way to be offended by the old logo.
Exactly
By mg
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 1:46pm
That was my first thought.
Unfair to lactating wolves!
By Wolfie
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 1:55pm
Unfair to lactating wolves!
Canis lupus oppressed!
By Gaius Juliana C...
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 3:20pm
It was offensive! That vile logo depicted a female wolf being drained of her precious bodily fluids, being used as an economic resource by two males, probably without her consent. Typical male predatory behavior.
Breast feeding in public!
By jmeltzer
Thu, 09/12/2019 - 9:54am
Keep breasts sexualized, as they were intended to be!
Don't you see the clear bias against active, involved fathers?
By Parkwayne
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 4:04pm
A mother and her two offspring, shown as a paragon of excellence without a father figure in sight. The matriarchy strikes again.
(This is a joke comment. Don't @ me)
Anathema
By Unquity
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 3:34pm
This is a crying shame. Same attitude that brought us everything we now hate about urban renewal in the 60s. Species of hubris and historical ignorance. Resist!
UnivHub is now a source for the Glob
By mg
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 6:19pm
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/09/11/bosto...
Heh!
By adamg
Wed, 09/11/2019 - 11:27pm
It was nice the Globe credited UHub in the story (really, not being sarcastic here), but I admit I especially love that story because it mentions Universal Hub and links to this story like five times because to prove its point about people being upset about the new logo, it relies exclusively on tweets that were either replies to my original tweet/link to this article or which linked to this article.
Oh look the High Point
By Local Guy
Thu, 09/12/2019 - 9:25am
Oh look the High Point University logo
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&...
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