The University of Northern Colorado – my school – has recently released their new logo just in time for my last semester here. I couldn’t be more excited about it!
The University hired Torch Creative for the redesign in an effort to bring an end to the inconsistency of our branding. Our logo has been through several major changes in recent history. Most recently, in 2004, we adopted the “athletic bear logo” since UNC was entering into Division 1 in the NCAA.
This bear was fitting for athletics but was not something optimized for use in many other departments of the university. It did not have much of an academic prestige to it and would look out of place if used in that way. Because of this, academic departments were using the more professional looking “silhouette bear” which did carry itself more academically, but it was not very graphically interesting. It was certainly not something you would see on t-shirts or banners at games. To make matters worse, there were actually many more variations of UNC’s logos and visual branding. UNC had to stop using relatively small fixes and needed to invest in some professional help.
Torch Creative is a firm that specializes in visual branding for sports teams. They were able to create a professional yet ferocious logo that could be used for all departments of the institution. Graphically speaking, I personally see great improvement; the bear is abstracted enough to look like a logo and a mascot. At the same time it is realistic enough to where it is more mature and has a more subtle tone of aggression. The symmetry is a quality I appreciate as well.
I was actually never really able to fully get behind my University’s logo because I always saw it as a little cartoon-y and silly looking. I made jokes about it’s uni-brow, mascara lashes, vampire teeth, big glossy eyes, and an odd shape. In all, it always struck me as more of a high school mascot.
The logo change did however cause a bit of an uproar with students who were not happy with the change; they missed the familiar face and the fierceness it had. A common criticism was also that they eyes were too small and the face wasn’t “scary enough”. Naturally, when you change a logo people have grown up with and have developed a personal connection to, they will always be upset. They created a Facebook group to get the old bear back which gathered about 1,700 students. They even wrote an essay about why they were robbed of the old bear back without popular consent.
I was part of the focus group they used to introduce the logo options to last year. Initially, we weren’t too fond of this new bear either but as we all talked about it, we started to change our minds. Already, many of the students who initially hated the new bear are already saying it is growing on them. I suspect the change was upsetting because they implemented it without the approval of the students and because when you are used to the old bear, the new one seems to be silly initially.
The eyes will seem microscopic if you are used to the big cartoon-y ones and the expression will seem tame if you compare it to the roar of the old one. Students will certainly grow to love it soon enough! And when the next generation of Bears come around and the new one is all they know, they would NEVER have it any other way. They will probably even laugh at the old version in time… just like we laugh about the fact that the school mascot used to be “The Teachers”
From both a branding and an artistic viewpoint, I believe this change is brilliant and a very welcomed improvement! I am very excited that I was able to see it come out before I graduated and I am also very pleased that I was able to be involved in the decision making process!
Well done, Torch! And welcome to the new, more mature Klawz.