Bringing a 200-year-old university into a new era

I collaborated with Johnson Banks to give University College London (UCL) a new brand voice, translating strategic traits into detailed, practical writing guidance.

As a Top 10 global university, UCL needed to stand out in an increasingly crowded higher education landscape. Johnson Banks had identified four core personality traits – Grounded, Optimistic, Global, and Open – that captured what makes UCL different.

Read more about the UCL rebrand in Johnson Banks’ case study.

My role was to unpack each trait into actionable writing principles that demonstrate how to capture that personality across UCL’s broad range of touchpoints and audiences.

The challenge was nuanced: how do you show intelligence without alienating? How do you demonstrate optimism without sounding naive? How do you write for an international audience while keeping London’s identity?

Defining the brand voice

For each trait, I developed detailed guidance to address these tensions directly.

Grounded

1. Discuss big ideas in terms of human impact
2. Admit when we don’t have the answer
3. Use wit (where appropriate) to be more relatable
4. Use clear, straightforward language

Optimistic

1. Frame challenges as opportunities
2. Lead with possibilities, acknowledge constraints
3. Use forward-momentum language
4. Show the pathway, not just the destination

Global

1. Make rich references accessible
2. Build context before diving in
3. Lead with the universal, then get specific
4. Use ‘here’ as a bridge, not a barrier

Open

1. Provoke new ways of thinking
2. Be approachable, not authoritative
3. Be transparent about difficult topics

Brand voice in action

I developed comprehensive before-and-after examples across 11 different touchpoints – from UCL’s strategic plan and prospectus copy to social media posts and alumni storytelling.

Each example demonstrated how these principles work in practice, with detailed annotations showing which of the four brand personality traits were being applied, how, and why.

The guidelines give writers concrete tools to apply UCL’s voice consistently across contexts, balancing credibility with accessibility, ambition with honesty, and global reach with local identity.