NCAA - Wichita State University

Wichita State U. Athletics Decides Not to Use New Logo

Logo won't be quick on the draw

BY FRED MANN
The Wichita Eagle

It's back to the drawing board for Wichita State University in its search for a new athletics logo.

The question is, whose board?

The school tried one in New York, but it didn't work.

Athletic director Jim Schaus has scrapped the new wheat logo designed by New York-based Phoenix Design Works, which he unveiled a week ago.

He said Tuesday that he would consider hiring a local firm for the project next time. But he isn't in any hurry.

"I just think we want to take a step back and take our time and evaluate what the next step is going to be," Schaus said.

No target date has been set for a new design, although he would like one by the time Levitt Arena reopens as a renovated and expanded Koch Arena in August 2003, he said.

Schaus enthusiastically embraced a new wheat logo for the department when he introduced it Sept 17. It was a shield-shaped emblem topped by 13 stalks of wheat and prominently displayed the name of the university in three-dimensional typeface.

But he dropped it Monday in response to fan disapproval. Schaus said the decision was his alone.

"I just felt, reviewing the feedback from people outside the process we had set up, that it was in our best interest to go in a different direction," Schaus said.

Schaus paid Phoenix Design Works $17,000 for the logo. The money came from WSU's athletic budget, not taxpayer funds, he said.

The university won't be out much more money than that because he hadn't ordered any merchandise for the new logo, he said.

There were only a few other "minor costs" involved, Schaus said, such as posting the new design online.

Robert Crawford, vice president for business development at Phoenix Design Works, said his firm has done hundreds of team logos, and this is the first time one has been withdrawn.

Crawford said the company worked closely with WSU on the design.

"We followed our client's directions down this road that we chose," Crawford said.

Crawford defended his firm's record and said four designers and its creative director worked on the project.

"My hunch would be that if they do move forward again, that it might best serve Wichita State and the community a little bit better if it was done in-house," Crawford said.

Schaus said he will consider that approach.

"It's important to note that in about everything we do, from printing to other design work, we almost exclusively work with local people," he said. "This was just kind of a specialty thing that was done.

"But after going through this process, I would be very open to look at this on a local level."

The decision pleased Shocker fan Don Gamble, a middle school teacher in Haysville.

"It wasn't the design in particular," Gamble said. "I was more irritated with the lack of effort at trying to use somebody local."

The new logo was the result of an audit of Shocker athletic brands that Schaus started a year ago. The audit convinced him that the school needed to replace a 21-year-old wheat logo with one that was consistent in color and typeface, and that would distinguish Wichita State from other "WSUs" such as Weber State University, Wayne State University, Washington State University and Wright State University.

The traditional WuShock logo won't be affected by the change.

Schaus said he will follow the same approach next time. That involved using up to 60 people in focus groups.

"I thought our approach was very sound," Schaus said. "I think, nine times out of 10, when you go through the right process you get the right product. This was the one-out-of-10th time that we didn't get the product."

Schaus declined to characterize the type or volume of fan response he received to the new logo.

"We had some support that was positive, and some e-mails and calls," he said. "It's hard to gauge....

"But I think, in general, there was collectively enough sentiment coming to us publicly that told me there wasn't sufficient support."

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