HSE Community Chooses New Brand Design for Cultural Centre

For more than a year, HSE students led by branding experts, have been developing the brand of the HSE Cultural Centre, which opened after the reconstruction of the university building on Pokrovsky Boulevard. The concept ‘Centre of Cultures’ won the all-university competition.

The competition focused on creating new associations and connections for the Cultural Centre, developing a suitable visual solution for the project, and creating a place for the creative development of students.

The following experts worked as team mentors: Nikolay Oblapokhin — Creative Director of O&P branding, Denis Shlesberg — Executive Creative Director of Artonika agency, Anastasia Tretyakova — Creative Director of Depot branding agency, Stanislav Okrukh — Partner and Creative Director of SmartHeart, Andrey Kozhanov — General Director at the Higher School of Branding, Managing Partner of Front Total Branding Agency, Dmitry Peryshkov — Creative Director of DDVB Agency, Natalia Mesh — Director of brand "Severin Project", and  Alexey Budyukov, entrepreneur.

In summer 2020,  a jury, made up of experts in branding, design, business and other industries, shortlisted three projects, and HSE students and staff have been voting for these over the last two months.

Here are the finalists:

• Denis Shlesberg's team with the "Yard" concept. The brand reflects the freedom, unity, commitment and creativity brought together at ‘HSE University’s Heart’ - HSE Cultural Centre.
• Anastasia Tretyakova's team with the "Zeta" concept. Freedom, science, culture, youth, enthusiasm, development - the brand combines all these concepts under the idea "Living Science. Young Culture".
• Dmitry Peryshkov's team with the concept of "Centre of Cultures". The brand brings together different forms of culture: participation, communication, freedom. The project’s moto is "Different, but equal".

On December 17th, the results of the voting, which closed on December 14, were announced. The "Centre of Cultures" received 1467 votes and won the competition.

The "Zeta" concept took second place with 1458 votes, and “Yard" got 931 votes.

The next steps for the winning concept

The concept will be implemented at the Cultural Centre, and all students are invited to participate in this process. The brand development has just begun, and the organizers will need the help of the participants who have already been working on the concept for a year.

The winning team will receive prizes from the competition partners-ABKR (Association of Branding Companies of Russia), Danone and HSE STORE.

LG Electronics is the HSE’s technical partner in this competition, and provided teams with the latest monitors to help them work more effectively.

The pandemic affected the competition process, but the organizers would like to express their gratitude to everyone involved for their understanding and active participation in the life of the University and Cultural Centre.

December 18, 2020