My first visit to Jesus College was almost 10 years ago, August 2017; my last was March 2020 (just before lockdown). Emma Thwaites at Allegory Communications invited me to create a campaign celebrating the College’s 450th anniversary, refreshing Jesus’ identity across print and digital media and to support a major capital investment building project.
We designed a new identity and a run of graphic hoardings around the site. When I last visited, the hoardings around the Northgate city centre development were installed and dismantling the original 60s block had got underway, just before Covid lockdown. Today was my first visit to the £40 million Cheng Yu Tung Building created by MICA Architects. Very exciting to see our identity in use across the site in signs, etched glass doors and carved stone relief. This work has transformed the area with new ground floor retail units and NHS clinic. The college gaining graduate accommodation and teaching spaces, immediately next to its historic 16th century site. The largest transformation of the College’s city centre footprint since the early 18th century.
