Opinion BY Armin

UConn’s Academics and Athletics Come Together

Established in 1881, the University of Connecticut is one of the leading public research universities in the U.S., attracting over 30,000 students to its six campuses. Additionally, its athletics team, the Huskies, have won 15 NCAA national team championships in the Division I, mainly through their women’s basketball team. Earlier this month the university first announced a new logo to be adopted organization-wide that would also reflect a marketing name change to UConn and later introduced a revised athletics identity, both designed by — guess who? — the Nike Graphic Identity Group.

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Opinion BY Armin

One Dog to Rule Them All

Established in the late 1890s, the Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams of the University of Georgia (est. 1785) and compete in the NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Bulldogs compete in 19 different sports and have won 39 national championships and 130 conference championships. To learn how serious the “’Dawgs” are about their sports: their football stadium seats 92,746 and is typically full. This week, the Bulldogs introduced a new identity system for the athletics program, designed by by Nike’s Graphic Identity Group.

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Opinion BY Armin

Activating Schools without Clichés

Launched at the end of February, Let’s Move! Active Schools is a new initiative that will provide “simple steps and tools to help schools create active environments where students get 60 minutes of physical activity before, during and after the school day.” Active Schools is part of Michelle Obama’s larger Let’s Move program and is being powered by Nike, which will invest over the course of five years “$50 million in the U.S. to increase the physical activity of kids in schools and communities as well as target advocacy efforts to inspire kids and draw additional resources to this important effort” as stated in this press release that lists the rest of the program’s partners. Nike worked with Wolff Olins to create a new brand for Let’s Move! Active Schools.

Update: The Nike team that worked with WO was Joe Stitzlein and Michael Malowanczyk. A few more images have been posted at the end, courtesy of Michael.

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Opinion BY Armin

Leave it to Beaver (and Nike)

Playing in the NCAA’s Division I tier through the Pac-12 Conference — sorry non-Americans, I know that means absolutely nothing to you (not that I blame you and in the bigger picture it doesn’t really matter other than you should know that’s the higher echelon of college sports) — the Oregon State Beavers are the sports team of Oregon State University. They haven’t been overly successful in terms of winning — only three NCAA national championships in Wrestling, Cross Country, and Baseball — but they have big followings in their football and basketball programs. Yesterday, the Beavers introduced a new logo, identity system, and uniforms designed by Nike’s Graphic Identity Group. The new beaver and block typography will replace the old beaver (obviously) as well as the well-known “OS” monogram and typography (all shown in animated GIF form above).

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Friday Likes BY Armin

Friday Likes 27

One might deduce that I have a thing for patterned and textural identities. One might be right. Work spanning bread, shoes and apparel, and design and architecture all get a sophisticated-over-the-top treatment in this week’s Likes.

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Friday Likes BY Armin

Friday Likes 15

A sandwich of restaurants with a delicious tennis feeling in this edition of Friday Links.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Utah State Athletics

The Utah State Aggies are the Division I athletics teams of Utah State University. Last week, they announced a complete redesign of their logos and uniforms, designed by Nike. Press release here, press gallery and videos here. One more image and one video below (or after the jump). Quick, someone call Wall Street, their bull is on the loose.

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Opinion BY Armin

USA Hoops’ New Looks

Established in 1974 as the Amateur Basketball Association of the United States of America, USA Basketball — renamed as such in 1989 when FIBA modified its rules to allow professional basketball players to participate in international competitions — is a non-profit organization that acts as the governing body for men’s and women’s basketball in the U.S., responsible for selecting and training the teams that participate in events like the Olympics and FIBA World Championships. This week USA Basketball introduced a new logo that replaces the current version, in use since 1989 and made world famous by the original Dream Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

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Guest Editorial by Roy Levitt Posted BY Brand New

Sparky Benched by Nike

Founded in 1885, Arizona State University is the largest public research university in the United States with a 2010 student enrollment of 70,440. Its Division I athletic teams, known as the Sun Devils, has collectively won 136 national championships to date. The Sun Devils have been recently rebranded and the Sparky mascot illustration, which had been used since 1946, has been replaced as the team’s primary identifier. This rebranding effort was completed by the Nike Graphic identity Group. According to ASU, the objectives of this initiative were “…to create a bold, high- performance athletic image and a promotional campaign that would maximize enthusiasm and interest in supporting the university, but to do so with minimum out-of-pocket costs.”

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