Yale-NUS College unveils core values logo and nomination platform

Since the announcement of the Yale-NUS College’s core values in 2021, much has been in the works to showcase how these values are exemplified in the College community. These core values – Transformation, Exploration, Respect, Inclusivity, and Care – are indeed reflective of the spirit of Yale-NUS students, staff, and faculty. To illustrate these values better, the College organised a core values logo design competition in March 2021 and will be embarking on the Core Values Champions Programme this year.

In the core values logo design competition, the College community was invited to tap on their creativity and thoughtfulness to craft logos representing the core values: one for each of the five values, and one that represented all five values as a whole. The competition raised awareness about the newly implemented core values and enabled the community to visualise the values through the logos that symbolised them.

The winning entry was created by Ishmam Ahmed (Class of 2023). According to Ishmam, his experience in Yale-NUS has been nothing short of faithful to the core values. “It has been a place of immense personal and intellectual transformation and exploration; it has made me feel loved, respected, and cared for,” he reflected.

Inspired by the design brief to use the college’s institutional colours of blue and orange, Ishmam’s instinct was to incorporate the Yale-NUS mascot, a blue-eared kingfisher named Halcyon, into each core value logo. Not only do the lively birds on the logos represent the college community, they also reflect Ishmam’s personality and approach to life. “I am a simple person – I draw birds, and I want my birds to be quirky beings with a lot of fun energy,” he said.

The newly designed core values logos by Ishmam Ahmed, featuring the college’s mascot, Halcyon, a blue-eared kingfisher. Image by Yale-NUS College.

Ishmam’s winning designs were selected by a judging panel comprising student, faculty, and staff representatives. According to the panel, Ishman’s designs were chosen because they are “simple, yet beautiful, self-explanatory and visually memorable and impactful.”

After winning the competition, Ishmam also helped the Core Values Working Committee to develop a style guide for the core values logos. Member of the Committee and Senior Manager of Public Affairs Jeannie Tay worked closely with Ishmam on this project and guided him through the process. She said, “It was great to have Ishmam onboard. As the author of the logos, he can better guide users on how to incorporate the Core Values logos into their designs, and can suggest different ways in which we can feature the logos in our collaterals.”

Jeannie was also involved in encouraging the community to use the logo in their collaterals and events, promoting its visibility. She believes that having the core values visualised around the college is important to direct the community in their interactions. “In a closely-knit community like ours, there are already certain common values that we identify with, and I think it is a very meaningful exercise for the community to come together to distil and articulate these values, which help to guide the way we behave and interact with one another in our community,” she shared.

Yale-NUS collateral, like the notebook featured here, displays the core values represented by the logo designs.

In addition to the logo design competition, the Core Values Working Committee also developed the Core Values Champions Programme, a platform to recognise individual staff, faculty, and teams who embody the College’s core values through their actions, transforming an individual or the College community and lifting them to greater heights.

The Core Value Working Committee, comprising representatives from Human Resources, IT Services and Public Affairs, works to make the core values visible through various platforms including the College website, portals and collaterals.

Chair of the Core Values Working Committee and Director of Human Resources Christopher (Chris) Anthony explained that the programme involves the nomination of individuals and teams, who exemplify our core values, by any student, faculty, or staff. This nomination will then be reviewed by a Steering Committee comprising staff and faculty representatives. The awards, which recognise staff or faculty for each core value or a combination of core values, will be given away at the annual faculty and staff year-end event.

He shared, “We hope through this recognition programme, every faculty and staff member will not only be inspired to model these values but also influence others to emulate them through their behaviours.”

Alongside the Core Values Champions Programme, Chris also shared how he hoped the community would be involved in recognising people who embody these values, and encouraging others to do so, through informal platforms. “Reminders and informal shoutouts by Heads of Department, Reporting Managers and peers at staff and faculty meetings, through emails and at department level events will help seed, fertilise and organically grow a culture that embodies the core values in action,” he said.

Indeed, increasing the visibility of the core values and promoting the active recognition of those who embody them are very important pursuits for the College community to engage with. Chris believes that “a set of organisational core values would help every constituent and stakeholder in the community navigate, relate and collaborate with one another in the type of community of learning that we advocate and embrace.”