Brand Guidelines - Marketing Communications - Carnegie Mellon University

Brand Guidelines

The University Identity System

The university's marketing communications experts periodically assess our graphic identity, refresh the brand standards and respond to the campus community's needs for more relevant brand identity guidelines.

There's been confusion among certain audiences that Carnegie Mellon is a bank, library or company because "Carnegie" and "Mellon" are common brand names among a variety of industries. The new identity guidelines provide a framework for you and your department's current graphic identity and include two significant updates.

  1. The official university wordmark graphic has been refreshed to help clarify our higher education category, now appearing with the word "University." 
  2. The acronym CMU is now permitted under specific parameters that are outlined in the guidelines. Refer to the merchandise guidelines for use of the graphic. 
  3. The University Seal graphic has been refreshed and will be permitted for “formal” use only. 


All university entities are encouraged to adopt the new unitmarks when you are ready to update your graphic identity. This is a transitional, gradual evolution for official materials and branded elements.



helpful links

To further achieve global familiarity for Carnegie Mellon University, consistency in our brand image is essential so prospective students know who we are in this competitive landscape; so our alumni endeavors are quickly associated with the success of our graduates; and so our innovations are easily recognized as part of our strength as a university and research institution.


Jared L. Cohon

message from the president