First, the logo. My first impression of the logo was "Hey, that's actually pretty cool and simple". When I thought about it later, however, I started to question whether it matches the prestige as a top university that Western desires to be seen as. The logo in fact, looks a lot like Skagit Valley College's, as shown below.
I wish the logo was something more along the lines of the old one, which represented Old Maine, Western's oldest building. I believe one of Western's key differences between other universities is how focused it is on academics over sports, and the quality of the professors. The old logo was close to giving off that image. With that being said, I believe the student that created this logo has amazing talent and will have an amazing career in Graphic Design, but it's not the right logo for Western's brand.
As for the tag-line, "Active Minds Changing Lives", I don't think it really sets Western apart, but it's not bad. I think you can plug that tag-line in any University and feel it could work. Then again, I'm not much of a fan of tag-lines.
I'm hoping that the new website will be a substantial improvement over the previous one, but we'll have to wait and see. It's too bad that cost was what prevented the site and logo rolling out together. Anyway, that is my take on Western's new branding strategy. I hope I'm proven wrong and it helps to accomplish Western's goals.
What do you guys think of Western's new brand image? What do you think Western's brand is all about? I'd love to hear the thoughts of some marketers