UC ANR is a jewel of the UC system but suffers from lack of brand awareness, both within UC and throughout the state. We are pleased to announce that we will soon be rolling out a modern, authentic and unified brand portfolio that will raise the profile of UC ANR and our programs and institutes – while promoting brand cohesiveness and impact.

A disjointed sub-brand family impedes awareness of UC ANR’s work; it confuses our audiences and interferes with their ability to connect our programs with our organization as a whole. In 2022, we hired a firm to conduct a brand audit to help us improve and streamline our brand presence. The audit provided numerous helpful recommendations, including updating and aligning our sub-brand family to improve brand unity and promote greater recognition of the totality of our work.

In late 2024, we engaged CMB Design Partners to help us with this challenge, and after months of collaborative work with leadership and key stakeholders, we are nearing the launch date for this exciting update!

The solution CMB developed includes logos for newer sub-brands (Community Nutrition & Health, UC ANR Fire Network, UC ANR Innovate, UC ANR Policy Institute, UC ANR Small Farms Network, UC Environmental Stewards) and unified cobranded treatments for the brands we don’t “own” (4-H, EFNEP, CalFresh). 

2024 sub-brand snapshot

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Sneak peek at new icons 

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The new brands will be shared internally before they are officially shared with the public to provide time for people to update their digital assets prior to the external launch. We estimate that the internal launch will take place in September, and the public rollout will be in October.

We will be working to update the Communications Toolkit, the Lands’ End promotional store and Aggie Print business card templates prior to the external rollout. Updating physical assets like signage and banners will be a longer-term process due to budgetary constraints.

We don’t expect people to throw out materials they have purchased that have old branding, so there will necessarily be a transition period until existing inventory is used up. This is the case with most, if not all, rebranding efforts in nonprofit, budget-conscious organizations. 

If you have questions about the rebranding project, please contact Linda Forbes, director of Strategic Communications: lforbes@ucanr.edu.