Logos/Branding

UNC Brand Transition – Guidance for School of Medicine Editors & Communicators

TL;DR: please do not attempt to adopt the new UNC brand elements at this time. Continue with business as usual, focus on accessibility and content quality, and we will share resources and guidance as soon as they become available.

As many of you are aware, the University of North Carolina is preparing to roll out a new institutional brand identity – “First. And For All.” This transition will include updates to core website brand assets such as logos, color palettes, typography, and other usage standards. As this work accelerates, we anticipate increased communication from the University related to brand compliance requirements.

At this time, UNC is still finalizing the official School of Medicine standards and implementation timelines. We are asking all web editors, designers, and communicators to pause any website branding changes or updates related to the new university brand until formal direction is released.

Why We’re Asking You to Pause

It is important that the School of Medicine adopt the new brand systematically, consistently, and at scale. Making independent or piecemeal revisions now will likely:

• Conflict with forthcoming standards
• Require rework once official assets are announced
• Create inconsistency across departments, programs, and units
• Undermine future School-wide rollout plans and efficiencies

We will be exploring a centralized implementation to allow us to coordinate changes across all websites simultaneously.

What You Should Do Now

While we wait on finalization, editors and communicators should continue to operate “as normal” and prioritize work that will remain relevant independent of future branding:

• Continue advancing web accessibility compliance:
  • The WCAG 2.2 standard and the April 26, 2026 compliance deadline remain in effect (Official UNC Policy).
  • Accessibility improvements to School of Medicine websites should continue and will not be impacted by branding changes
• Streamline and improve content
  • Consolidate outdated material
  • Remove duplicative pages
  • Improve clarity, navigation, and readability
• Document where you have legacy brand elements implemented
  • Old Well logos, departmental identity marks, etc.
  • This will support a smoother transition once updates can be centrally executed

Thank You

We recognize that many of you are actively planning communications, campaigns, and website improvements with the new UNC brand. We appreciate your patience and partnership as we work toward a coordinated rollout that supports both compliance and operational efficiency.

In the meantime, if you have questions, please reach out.