Coursekit changes name and logo

It is not always bad to be the square peg in the round hole.

Coursekit, an education management startup founded by three Penn students, changed its name to Lore in light of changing company directions.

Its new logo consists of the product name arranged in a square formation within a red circle. “We love this mark because it has power through combining fundamental elements and represents our belief in changing norms — a square peg in a round hole,” the website reads.

The startup, which has over $6 million in funding, was founded in June 2011 by Joseph Cohen, who just completed his sophomore year at Wharton; Jim Grandpre, who completed his sophomore year in Engineering; and Dan Getelman, who completed his junior year in Wharton and Engineering and is a former Daily Pennsylvanian lead online developer.

The idea for the change came to CEO Cohen about six months ago, when he thought the company needed a new brand to reflect its growth and changes.

“We focused on courses, but we quickly realized that our vision expanded beyond courses,” Cohen said.

Coursekit’s old name and logo was a cube, but the founders thought it was too restricting, and the business was more than just about courses.

The word “lore” itself means knowledge shared between people. Cohen thought the name change accurately reflected the company’s goal for learning that could both be shared between large groups of people and have a more social aspect to it.

“We want to build a company that inspires the spirit of learning,” Cohen said, adding that the name change is “a long-term move.”

Cohen also noted the word Lore was “more abstract” and “it is not commonly used, so we get to inject our own meaning into it.”

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