Now I’ve finally found something new: the huge sign welcoming us to Wageningen Campus. The bottom is bilious green while the white letters saying ‘welcome’ rather than ‘welkom’ imply you can only come in if you speak English. The top is white and displays the words wage, ningen and campus in a not quite serious font. Brilliant! The designer has managed to combine childishness (that w), sterility (that white) and anonymity (could this be the entrance to a care home or a car dealership?) with a spelling error (it should of course be Wageningen), doing so with consummate skill.
On Facebook, friends and colleagues all over the world have been expressing their irritation too. ‘Wasn’t there already enough confusion with Wageningen UR brands like WU, WUR, DLO, PRI, LEI and do they need yet another brand name for the campus?’ says one. ‘This is awful,’ says another. Even Wageningen UR spokesman Simon Vink understands the confusion. ‘But it’ll get sorted out, I hope,’ he says on Twitter.
I think he’s right. The first international students have already been spotted posing next to the sign.
Stijn van Gils
(28) is doing doctoral research on ecosystem services in agriculture. Every month he describes his struggles with the scientific system.
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