Where is the Dolphin?

Where is the dolphin?

Those who haven’t noticed yet, the dolphin in the University of Southampton logo is gone! And her sudden disappearance has given another great opportunity to start a group on Facebook. Right now, the University students are divided into two groups. Those who want to ‘bring back the dolphin’ and those who want to ‘keep the change’.

The thing about the logo is, it has been here for the past 15 years. We are now so familiar with that dolphin that we don’t bother to read ‘University of Southampton’. We, the human beings, are good at visualizing subjects by means of signs. That is the primary reason that we prefer to use signs in our daily life. Just imagine traffic signs written in English instead of symbols. It is very difficult to interpret them without signs. Thus, the first argument is that we are used to this logo.

Secondly, the human-dolphin relationship is very old. You can trace it back to ancient civilizations such as Minoans and Greeks. It symbolizes friendship, peacefulness and intelligence as they are considered to be amongst the most intelligent of animals. This little logo refers to all these characteristics and in a way defines the university priorities.

Thirdly, this logo is found everywhere representing our university. Take a walk down on the University Road and you will encounter it several times. It is not just limited to our university premises. You can easily spot it in many places in Southampton. It will cost a lot to change them.

It is not that we are reluctant to change. We know that sometimes change is inevitable and is necessary. However, we are unable to understand what good this change will bring to us.

‘Bring Back the Dolphin’!