During the past year, Rogue Community College’s Marketing & Communications team has been working on a Brand Evolution project focused on strengthening how RCC shows up across communications — while staying true to who we are and the community we serve.
First, an important clarification: this work is a brand evolution, not a rebrand. RCC’s identity, mission and logo remain the same. The goal was to modernize and bring more consistency to how we express who we are — visually, verbally and through the experiences we create — without losing what makes RCC, RCC.
To support this work, Marketing & Communications partnered with Madison Ave Collective (MAC), a firm with experience in higher education branding. They are also one of the agencies we are working with on the website redesign.
Our Brand ‘North Star’
To keep us aligned, the brand work was guided by a shared framework. At its core, every expression of the RCC brand should:
- Reinforce quality education as our central promise.
- Reflect our connection to the Rogue Valley, its people and environment.
- Create a sense of belonging for students at every stage of life.
- Be clear, consistent and flexible across all uses.
What’s Been Completed
The Brand Evolution project resulted in a set of updated tools and guidelines that will be rolled out gradually across RCC communications. These include:
- A new tagline — Opportunity Starts Here — aligned with RCC’s Opportunity College designation and focused on access, possibility and student success.
- Clear logo usage guidelines. While a new logo was explored, RCC will continue using its existing logo for now due to economic considerations. Guardrails were established for primary, secondary, department, athletic and mascot use.
- An expanded color palette rooted in RCC blues, with accent colors used sparingly.
- Updated fonts to improve readability while remaining compatible with the current logo.
- New graphic elements and photo treatments inspired by the Rogue River, local landscapes and community connections.
Mascot and athletic branding guidelines were also clarified. Ossie T. Osprey remains a student-facing, playful character and should always be used alongside official RCC branding — not on his own. No flying solo for Ossie T. Osprey!
How This Connects to the Website Redesign
You’ll start to see the updated brand applied most visibly through the Website Redesign project. The new site is being built using the evolved brand system so that colors, fonts, imagery and messaging feel consistent across the college.
The website redesign is a large, multi-phase effort, and a more detailed update on where that project stands — including what faculty and staff can expect next — is explored in another Rogue Report article this week.
What This Means for Faculty & Staff
There’s no expectation to update everything at once. Marketing & Communications will:
- Apply the updated brand system to college-wide materials.
- Refresh templates and shared assets over time.
- Support departments as materials are updated or newly created.
We encourage departments to partner with Marketing & Communications for marketing and promotional needs — from flyers and pull-up banners to swag, press releases, social media and beyond. Working together and using approved logos, templates and fonts helps ensure RCC presents a consistent, professional image across the college.
IT has pushed out the new fonts to all devices (PT Serif and DM Sans), so they are available for use by everyone. Woohoo! Thank you, IT.
Looking Ahead
Brand work isn’t about changing who we are — it’s about clearly and consistently reflecting the strength of RCC’s programs, people and community. This evolution gives us tools to tell our story more effectively and confidently, whether we’re reaching prospective students, community partners or one another.
As the updated brand continues to roll out — including through the website redesign — you’ll see it come to life in ways that feel familiar, cohesive and rooted in place.
Thank you for your partnership as we move this work forward together.
For questions, contact Director of Marketing & Communications/PIO Kelly Gonzales via email or Teams.