Today, universities are increasingly expected to function not only as educational institutions but also as psychological and social communities in which members can form a sense of identity and emotional belonging. However, traditional university bran...
Today, universities are increasingly expected to function not only as educational institutions but also as psychological and social communities in which members can form a sense of identity and emotional belonging. However, traditional university branding strategies have focused primarily on visual identity elements such as logos, official colors, and slogans, often failing to adequately reflect the emotions and lived experiences of members. In particular, the graduate school environment—centered on individualized work—tends to limit opportunities for shared community engagement and connection. This study, grounded in the belief that “a brand is not something given, but something created together,” explores the potential of emotion-based participatory communication design as a means to foster internal connectedness and collective identity within a university. To this end, a series of design experiments was conducted involving 50 graduate students in the Visual Communication Design program at Hongik University. These included a participatory logo workshop, a modular stamp-making experience, and interactive exhibition-based engagements. Participants created their own logos using handwritten typography, keywords, and shapes, which were then expanded into a customizable modular system. The project yielded three main outcomes. First, the participatory workbook archive served as a visual record of 50 unique logos and texts that reflected each student’s emotions and identity. Second, the modular logo stamp system was designed as a practical tool that encouraged repeated user engagement through free combination of visual elements. Third, the motion logo visualized the concept of a non-fixed brand identity by sequencing the dynamic transformation of diverse logo forms. The results demonstrate that participatory design, when grounded in users’ emotional experiences, can allow university branding to function not merely as a collection of visual elements but as a medium for emotional bonding and community building. This suggests that an internally driven, emotion-based branding strategy offers meaningful potential for redefining university communication design practices.