Western Sydney University

In collaboration with the We Collective, Thunderous spearheaded a new branding and communications system throughout every touchpoint of the brand. Widely, and unfairly, considered a second-tier university – it was vital that we found a brand positioning that played to the strengths of Western. Namely, despite not having the heritage of many older universities – graduates were ranked highest by employer.

We found that in the word ‘Unlimited’. 

Higher education is an incredibly cluttered market

We identified a series of signals that would help separate the new identity from the pack. The language in all communications is provocative and punchy, laser-focused on the outcomes Western Sydney Universities delivers. The rich burgandy colour is prominent. The typography is clean, but matched with a serif copy font that references historical academic texts. The student is at the centre of all placements.

Importantly, the look was flexible enough to create different looks that still had a common thread through different communication priorities. 

Video and Social Strategy

A series of films were produced for broadcast that were also capable of being repurposed for social channels. As social media was managed by the internal marketing team – extensive social comms pillars were developed along with templates that would assist to keep all outputs aligned.