The Four Winds Logo
In establishing a logo for the fledging institution, our founders sought a timeless symbol that would be representative of New College and yet would express an eternal truth. Here’s what appeared in the first New College catalog (January 1965): “The sun which dominates the landscape becomes the central pivot, symbolizing the light of knowledge and the source of life and energy. The gentle and continuously moving lines represent the sea and the wind, the controlled waxing and waning of the four seasons, and the four points of the compass. We know that for at least 2,500 years the flowing movement of this design has had symbolic meanings of continuity and variety; so it does for New College. For us these never ending forms imply that New College will always move forward; that it will forever be what its name was chosen to portray; the constant newness of the searching for knowledge and truth.”
The Four Winds logo has been incorporated into the contemporary mark that you see throughout our website. The dynamic diagonal icon breaks out of the norm of the typical horizontal or vertical grid and suggests the many different perspectives that at converge at New College of Florida. Eight words have been selected to represent our basic character, with “four” being the most cogent: Innovative, Inspired, Intellectual and Involved. Like the four seasons and the four points of the compass, these four qualities guide our path.
