About our brand
Our brand is more than just our logo; it’s how we communicate our purpose, values and impact. It’s how we cut through the noise in a competitive market. And, perhaps most importantly, it’s how people feel and what they say about us.
As a vast institution with many different audiences, we need a cohesive brand to ensure each understands exactly who we are, what we stand for, and what to expect from us. To maintain trust and connection with our audiences, our communications must feel consistent, and distinctly ‘Herts’.
This toolkit exists to support staff to communicate who we are and what we’re all about with confidence and impact.
Who are we and how do we want to be seen?
The University of Hertfordshire is a dynamic and innovative institution with a long history of driving ambition and enterprise across the region. Our inclusive and entrepreneurial nature powers the potential of our students, staff, corporate partners, and members of the community.
We take pride in our reputation for delivering excellent learning and teaching and contributing ground-breaking research to the world stage. We provide skilled graduates ready for the modern workplace by delivering career-focussed degrees.
Businesses seek us to acquire the support and facilities they need to take their companies further, faster. Government organisations value our partnership to support economic growth in the region and beyond.
Our stakeholders benefit from our many local, regional and international connections which provide a wealth of opportunities.
Herts. Beats Faster.
Our vision
Our vision is to transform lives. This means whatever your background, wherever you are from, we will drive your potential, powering you to succeed. ‘Powering Potential’ is our brand promise; it’s how we transform lives and is the promise we make to students, staff and organisations when they come to study or work with us.
We don’t usually use ‘Powering Potential’ explicitly in our communications, but there are ways you can consider and capture the essence of this promise in the way you communicate with your audiences, from tone of voice to use of colour.
Our values
Our values, ‘Friendly, Ambitious, Collegiate, Enterprising and Student focused’ (FACES), underpin and guide everything we do, including how we behave and communicate.
| Friendly | Being open and approachable. Embracing challenges and new ideas. Being respectful and inclusive. |
|---|---|
| Ambitious | The quality or act of being very determined. Having drive. Doing something that might appear difficult or unattainable. |
| Collegiate | Working with others for a positive, shared outcome. Creating belonging. Being part of something bigger. |
| Enterprising | The ethos of creating something from scratch that has commercial value. The spirit that comes with taking responsibility for one's own success. |
| Student-focused | Being responsive to student needs. Working in partnership with our students. Treating everyone as an individual. |
Our brand personality
When someone has a great personality, we are naturally drawn to them. When it comes to brand, personality works in the same way.
Our brand personality is what makes us unique. It's how we behave, how we present ourselves, and how we want the world to view us. Just as someone’s personality might influence their fashion or lifestyle choices, our brand personality informs our use of colour, type, imagery, subject matter and tone of voice.
Our personality should come across in everything we do to inform our strategic decisions, amplify our values and solidify our reputation.
Our personality traits
| Approachable | Being warm, friendly and easy to talk to. |
|---|---|
| Supportive | Providing encouragement; giving practical and emotional help. |
| Ambitious | Having or showing a strong drive to succeed. |
| Open-minded | Willing to consider new ideas; creative; unprejudiced. |
| Entrepreneurial | Having or showing initiative and resourcefulness; taking responsibility for one’s own success, often in a commercial setting. |
Our narrative
Our narrative explains where we’ve come from, who we are and where we’re going. It can be used across a range of communications materials and channels including press releases, award entries, our website, and internal/external presentations.
Title
The University of Hertfordshire: Powering potential. Accelerating growth.
Subtitle
Whether it’s in learning, teaching, or business partnership, the University of Hertfordshire transforms bold ambition into life-changing reality.
Body copy
Defined by the spirit of innovation and enterprise, the University of Hertfordshire has been an innovative, vocation-first educational force for more than 70 years.
From our start as a leading educator within Britain’s aeronautical industry to our extensive offering today, we have always specialised in providing the environment and expertise needed to power every kind of potential.
For our thriving community of just under 32,000 students from over 140 countries, that means high-quality teaching from experts engaged in groundbreaking research with real-world impact. Access to over 550 career-focused degree options and a chance to study at more than 170 universities worldwide, using outstanding, true to life facilities. And industry connections that offer professional networking opportunities which take talents even further.
We are a university that never stands still. We champion social mobility and the drive to create personal and societal change. We celebrate those who break barriers. We nurture entrepreneurs and develop tomorrow’s leaders, innovators and trailblazers in healthcare, education, business, science, humanities, law, sport, and creative arts. We partner with key employers, professional bodies, and government to ensure we are directly responding to real-world needs. We are a catalyst for change: empowering our community to make a radical impact in the region, across the UK and around the world.
We are Herts.
Herts. Beats Faster.
Discover a place where ideas move at a different pace.
herts.ac.uk
Boilerplate
Our boilerplate is a shorter version of our narrative and will be mostly used in PR material - it can also be used if a shorter summary of the university is required.
About the University of Hertfordshire
Defined by the spirit of innovation and enterprise, the University of Hertfordshire has been an innovative, vocation-first educational force for more than 70 years.
From our start as a leading educator within Britain’s aeronautical industry to our extensive offering today, we have always specialised in providing the environment and expertise needed to power every kind of potential.
For our thriving community of more than 30,000 students from over 140 countries, that means high-quality teaching from experts engaged in groundbreaking research with real-world impact. Access to over 550 career-focused degree options and a chance to study at more than 170 universities worldwide, using outstanding, true to life facilities. And industry connections that offer professional networking opportunities which take talents even further.
We are Herts. Herts. Beats Faster.
Discover a place where ideas move at a different pace.
Visit herts.ac.uk
Condensed boilerplate
Please use the condensed boilerplate where you have a limited number of words to use or you require one sentence to describe the University of Hertfordshire.
Example:
https://issuu.com/uniofherts
About the University of Hertfordshire
Defined by the spirit of innovation and enterprise, the University of Hertfordshire has been an innovative, vocation-first educational force for more than 70 years.
Discover a place where ideas move at a different pace. Visit herts.ac.uk
Related guidance
get in touch
If you have any questions please contact a member of the team:
| Contact | |
|---|---|
| Corporate Communications team, Marketing and Communications | corporatecomms@herts.ac.uk |
| Viktoria Gal, Head of Brand and Reputation | v.gal@herts.ac.uk |
| Marketing and Communications Business Support | marketinguh@herts.ac.uk |