Wayne State College has unveiled all-new logos, including a wildcat, letter W, and re-imagined wordmark.

The Nebraska-located higher education institution says the redesigned visual identity represents a “return to its visual roots”.

“Our brand is what sets Wayne State College apart from other colleges and universities,” claims Marysz Rames, president of Wayne State College. “Throughout the college’s history, the visual component of our brand has been refreshed. Sometimes it has been out of necessity, such as a name change, and at other times it has been to recognise new energy and direction at the college.”

The Wayne State archives chart the college’s use of a variety of images to project the College’s visual identity. These symbols and acronyms range from NNC (Nebraska Normal College 1891), WSN (Wayne State Normal 1914), NSTC (Nebraska State Teachers College 1928), and WSTC (Wayne State Teachers College 1958) to WSC (Wayne State College 1963).

“This is the first time in more than 15 years that Wayne State College has reimagined its visual identity,” explains Jay Collier, director of College Relations. “The last update was the adoption in 2005 of the Wayne State College wordmark so prevalent on our current printed and digital materials. And while the mark served us well, the look had grown dated. So we took a fresh look at the College to see what we could do to breathe new life into our look and feel … while still honouring our past.”

“One letter stood out, though, among the archival entries: the W,” adds Collier, who oversees communications and marketing at the college. “Letter jackets, sweaters, sweatshirts, athletic jerseys, pennants, yearbooks, and mascots featured the iconic W from our earliest days. As we looked for a new icon to accompany a new wordmark, we took a cue from our history and incorporated the W into our new family of logos.”

Another constant since 1921 has been the wildcat. The college was formerly known as the Tigers and the Teachers until 1921, when “In a close-fought game against a much larger and heavier rival, someone (quite possibly the college newspaper sports editor) decided that ‘Wildcats’ was a more fitting symbol than ‘Tigers’ for the small but spunky team, and the label quickly caught on,” according to Wayne State historical accounts.

Created by Kristi Nelson, a 2002 graduate of Wayne State who majored in graphic design and who now serves as marketing coordinator for the College, the new cat is not meant to replace the ‘Paw’ logo that has been used for Wayne State athletics since the 1980s; the new cat logo will instead supplement and complement the existing athletics brand.

The W and wordmark, on the other hand, have been created by designers at Clark Creative Group in Omaha, with whom Wayne State has worked for the production of television, radio, and digital advertising.

Source: Wayne State College