The VCU logo and wordmark, as well as approved unit brand marks, can be used by faculty, staff and students for retail sales, internal merchandise and other promotional purposes. The following guidelines outline when and how to use the VCU logo, typographical standards and trademarks, and how to find an approved vendor.

To comply with the VCU Office of Trademarks and Licensing, the ® or TM needs to be on all merchandise with official brand marks. This applies to both retail products and non-retail purchases, such as orders by departments for internal purposes.

• TM appears on all marks that aren’t registered with the USPTO
• ® appears on all marks that are registered with the USPTO
• The ® should be approximately 1/8 height of the “U” in VCU

VCU wordmarks should be used as follows:

• Virginia Commonwealth University^®
• VCU^®
• VCU Rams™
• Rams™
• Havoc^®

Licensed vendors should be able to handle this requirement. VCU Business Services maintains a list of licensed vendors.

Marks

The full seal is always preferred, but if vendor techniques or overall logo size cause the full seal to become illegible, the simple seal is permitted.

If vendor embroidery techniques do not allow for Univers 45 Light in the unit name, Univers 55 or Arial Regular are alternate typefaces.

The master mark can be printed in 1 color on black or white only (the black or white will be the seal’s background).

The 1-color simple seal can be printed on any color. (In all cases, marks can only print in black, white or gold.)

Merchandise options

While use of the official brand mark or wordmark is preferred on merchandise for schools, colleges, etc., we recognize the occasional need to do something different for student fundraisers and retail sales. In these instances, it is permissible to omit “School of” or “College of,” for instance VCU Pharmacy or VCU Engineering. The artwork also can be stylized so long as it does not infringe on the typographical standards for brand marks or wordmarks.

In all cases, merchandise should be produced via licensed vendors and the ® mark must be included after VCU as outlined above.

Faculty and staff should continue to use their approved unit brand marks or wordmarks for all merchandise, collateral, promotion, and other uses.

DO use the official school mark.

DON’T use partial university brand assets (in this case, VCU logotype).

DO use different typestyling and omit “School of”