During the last several years, we’ve shown that the Beavers are for real
on a national stage. It really started with the 2001 Fiesta Bowl win over Notre Dame. Since that time, there’ve been four other bowl games, including last
season’s Sun Bowl victory. There’s been a national baseball championship
and a solid run by softball at the NCAA Women’s College World Series. And
there have been many other sports that have had Top 20 national rankings and student-athletes
participating on a national stage—from gymnastics to swimming to wrestling.
In the last five years, we’ve been on national or regional TV a record number
of times.
Although we still have work to do, we’ve reached a new phase in our
ongoing efforts for improvements. We’ve arrived at a new level, and it
was time to make this change to better represent Oregon State on a national
stage. Our main purpose for pursuing this from an athletics perspective was
to develop a unique font and numbering system that is only available to us.
We’re currently working on a trademark of the newly created font so we
can guarantee its exclusivity.
An exciting new partnership with Nike is furthering this change. For the first
time, we are considered one of about 30 “promo” schools nationally.
This means there will be more retail lines available and a bigger investment
from Nike to provide gear exclusively for 15 of our 17 sports. Nike designed
the new numbering that will be displayed in the second phase of the new brand
identity system later this month. We’ll showcase our new football uniforms
live on our website (Beaver Nation Online) at Noon on April 27.
This was a long and involved process. The creation of the new identity system
began in the Fall of 2005 and involved many people along the way. Some of our
coaches, student-athletes, professors, alums and others gave important input
and insight throughout this time. The essence of the project was to establish
a new look for our lettering and numbering system. The result was a newly designed
font.
Michael Morrow, a former graphic designer and creative director for Nike, led
the design process. His team originally had 14 different concepts that they
developed before narrowing those ideas to three concepts, which they presented
to us. Those three proposals were vetted in focus groups for additional feedback.
After months of work on this project, it was exciting to finally unveil the
results. (brand identity)
Morrow, who’s boutique design agency has worked with many sports-related
clients such as ESPN, Notre Dame, and the Cleveland Browns, explained that there
were a few guiding principles that informed the design process:
- Visually differentiate Oregon State from other universities with similar
color schemes and/or lettering. The “Interlock OS” clearly and
obviously stands for Oregon State.
- Limit the number of letters to one or two. This strategy aligns with traditional
monogram design principles of using one or two letters identify athletic teams.
So with those principles in mind, the new look was created. The interlocking
“OS” also signifies values that are core to our program—teamwork,
unity, family. Although minimal in its design, the letters are streamlined to
symbolize speed and strength. The newly designed font type uses arches at the
top and bottom of the “O” and “S”—visually reminiscent
of steel beams, broad shoulders and honed athletic muscles. For those of us
who aren’t graphic designers, these nuances aren’t obvious, I’m
sure. But once explained by the design team, they sure add up to an impressive
identity.
Yes, we’ll still have the established Beaver head as our primary logo.
The new “OS” will be the primary monogram, which some teams, including
baseball, are already using.
While change is never easy, I want to stress that this new branding effort
will enable us to create a common identity and set us apart from other schools
that have similar color schemes and abbreviations.
I understand that there will undoubtedly be traditionalists and fans who will
find it hard to jump immediately on the new “OS” bandwagon. With
all things visual—paintings, sculpture, performance art, and even athletic
logos—there are lots of opinions. Bottom line: we needed to make our mark
on a national stage—to be consistent and distinctive. These changes will
help us do that.