NCAA - Wichita State University

Wichita State U. Unveils New Athletics Logo

WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State University's athletics department has updated its wheat logo, while the WUShock mascot logo will remain unaltered, as a part of a comprehensive branding project in an effort to better promote its name and a national image, Director of Athletics Jim Schaus announced today.

The athletics department, which has featured two logos for many years - the WSU wheat mark and WUShock - will utilize a new wheat logo which will feature for the first time "Wichita State Shockers" instead of "WSU."

WUShock, Wichita State's mascot logo, is not affected by this process and will continue to be utilized as usual.

"It is important for our building athletic program to have an opportunity to promote itself as 'Wichita State Shockers' in a logo, not exclusively 'WSU', since we recruit, compete and are viewed on a national level," Schaus said. ?This new logo allows us to communicate more accurately who we are, since there are many schools that refer to themselves as WSU, like Washington State University, and it gives us a chance to promote our unique nickname in Shockers. This new mark will allows us to better promote our city, university and athletic program to individuals throughout the country.

"This effort is an important step in the image building process of our athletic program. We have to think big and promote ourselves on a larger scale to coincide with our efforts to create a more competitive athletic department. I believe several years from now, a lot more people will know better who we are as an athletic program by virtue having a branding identity of 'Wichita State Shockers.'"

The project was coordinated by Phoenix Design Works, a national design company specializing in logo design, which has worked with a variety of colleges and professional sports entities.

"The new Wichita State University logo identity design program should assist the athletics department in meeting objectives of establishing a more prominent national identity," James M. Skiles, Creative Director, Phoenix Design Works. "Our involvement ranged from initial conceptual development to implementation of the final design program you see today. The process involved extensive design directions being created, and tested in an exhaustive focus group forum to ensure the accuracy of the design work going forward for the designated target audiences."

Feeling that the athletics department WSU wheat logo did not promote the City of Wichita, Wichita State University or the athletics department, Schaus began the branding audit last fall, which included staff and many constituents who gave input and supplied commentary that relayed the sentiment that Wichita State needed a logo that increased identification outside the Wichita area on a national level.

?The new mark is very sharp and was popular with focus groups," Schaus said. "It should be successful for merchandising since its scope is broader with 'Wichita State Shockers' and it was designed to manufacture well. The new logo and WU will make a great team."

Additional items accomplished in the branding project was a consistent color for Shocker yellow (PMS 116), a new Shocker font with its own alphabet, special word marks, sport specific marks and a commitment to consistency in usage of all of those items.

"Replacing the WSU wheat logo will be a gradual process with facilities and uniforms, but we are committed to making that transformation as quickly as possible to start branding ourselves as Wichita State University on a national level," Schaus said.

The athletics department also announced a new partnership with Licensing Resource Group to assist in its licensing and merchandising.

"I am very excited with our partnership with LRG," Schaus said. They are an experienced company that will enhance our ability to market our logos and improve our merchandise sales in Wichita and beyond."

This article was taken from www.wichita.edu.  All rights reserved.