Ligatures

You’ll often notice in Messiah’s communications the use of two different words “fused” together. We refer to these as “ligatures” and they symbolize Messiah’s ability to help students reconcile seemingly different ideals in new and interesting ways. Messiah College uses ligatures to help visually communicate its institutional values and to help students explore if Messiah’s values will be a good fit for their own.

Accepted uses of ligatures

Ligatures are always made from Priori Sans bold and must always be displayed vertically. Most often, the ligature has the two first letters of the word meeting in the middle of the ligature. The one exception is work/play, which has the words meeting at the end of the words. These ligatures exist as vector-based files; under no circumstances should the artwork be re-created. If you are interested in using a ligature art file in your campus communications, please contact the College's creative director at ext. 2294, 717-691-6027 or design@messiah.edu.

Messiah College primary ligatures

There are seven primary ligatures that are used in Messiah’s viewbook for prospective students. For these ligatures, the College has developed an “outcome” of what happens when these specific powerful concepts are brought together in the lives of students. Students also go deeper into primary ligatures through the use of an applied narrative, written in the first-person voice of a student, called a “tone poem.” These ligatures are also supported by video. To view a gallery of primary ligatures and their outcomes, tone poems and videos, visit messiah.edu/ligatures.

Messiah College secondary ligatures

Messiah also uses seven additional ligatures in a secondary, supporting strategy throughout its print and digital communications. For example, the following two ligatures are used in ads and banners. They have descriptions and videos on the website but are not used in the viewbook. Also, they do not use supporting tone poems.

These remaining five secondary ligatures are used primarily on banners across campus but do not have supporting tone poems or descriptions: