“We partnered with the Department of Public Safety and the Office of Auxiliary Services on the QCard redesign in order to improve identification of card holders, both on and off campus,” James Ryan, interim Associate Vice President for integrated marketing and communications said. “The primary purpose of the redesign was centered around usage and function.”

Last year, the university promoted the school’s move towards the plaid identity element in a brief promotional launch of items varying from cups in the cafe, to auctioned off t-shirts and later faced adversary in the infamous battle of the lowercase “u” in “Quinnipiac university” and then the fight to remove the term “university” from Quinnipiac altogether. Despite the continuous push for new branding, the most recent QCard adopts significantly less design than previous versions even though it is one of the most commonly used items across campus.

“The size of the card holder’s picture has been increased in order to make identification of the card holder easier,” Ryan commented. “The design of the new cards fit within our brand standards and the predominant use of white was intentional as it allows the card holder’s photograph to stand out more.”

Current students with earlier versions of the QCard may keep using the ones they have if they remain intact, but the new design will be implemented on all new and replacement cards moving forward.

“All new cards issued will feature the new design – including new students, staff, faculty and anyone else who needs to carry a QCard for identification purposes,” Ryan said. “There is no real official switch per se. Going forward, all new cards that are issued will feature the new design.”