The Queen’s University tricolour has been a symbol of pride for our alumni for generations. The blue, gold, and red waves proudly from our campus, flies high above Homecoming, and is a part of the Queen’s experience that all of us carry with us when we graduate.
For these reasons, we undertook the redesign of our Queen’s alumni logo, a tricolour flag, very seriously. And, after much debate and exploration, we are very excited to introduce it to our Queen’s community.
It’s worth noting that the last time we updated our logo was in 2007, when we were just starting to use iPhones and many social-media platforms were in their infancy, and we could not have conceived of the pandemic that changed our world this past year. In short, our world has changed, and so has Queen’s. As you know, over the past few years – and especially under the leadership of Principal Patrick Deane – the university has been taking steps, with the input of alumni, to confront elements of the past and chart a new course for the future. It’s a future that includes everyone and that connects Queen’s to the world around us. This new logo is intended to reflect the best of Queen’s tradition while also pushing us forward, into an even brighter tomorrow.
The new logo coincides with the advent of a new Queen’s Alumni Review, a publication that brings us back to the campus we all called home. It’s a place to share stories, reconnect with each other, and read the latest news. You’ll notice that it features a bolder design, better reflects our diverse alumni community, and puts all of us in a new light.
Change is itself a powerful symbol, and sometimes we like to hold on to the way things were. It’s my hope, and the hope of the QUAA, that we have held on to what makes our logo and magazine so special. But I also believe that the changes we have made have helped us move forward in ways that are not only meaningful to our alumni but that also show where we stand on the issues that matter most. For each of us, the most critical issues will be different – but we hope you will find the common ground that unites us in these new approaches to our logo and the Alumni Review.
Rico Garcia, Artsci'13
Volunteer President, Queen's University Alumni Association
