Oregon State Unveils New OS Logo and Brand Identity

The new “OS” logo

(CORVALLIS, Ore. ) - Oregon State University has announced an enhanced brand identity system to represent OSU’s athletic teams on the fields and courts.

The new look is a result of a collaborative effort between the University, Collegiate Licensing Company and Michael Morrow of Morrow Creative Group.

The new identity system establishes a distinctive and consistent font type in addition to a new “OS” logo.

The new “OS” logo will be secondary to the nationally established Beaver head that appears on the field at Reser Stadium, football helmets and on the court at Gill Coliseum.

For Athletics the new “OS” is considered a spirit mark that already has been implemented by some teams including the defending baseball national champions.

CLC and Nike have partnered to launch the new “OS” apparel which is has an April target for availability at retail.

The gear will be available at Beaver sponsors Joes, OSU Bookstore on campus, Downtown Portland Beaver Fan Shop location and online at www.osubeavers.com.

Oregon State’s athletic teams have used several variations of logos in the past, including the block “O”.

The goal of the new logotype is to create a unique appearance that will be easily identifiable throughout the nation.

“This new branding effort will enable us to create a common identity and will set us apart from other schools that have similar color schemes and abbreviations. I want to stress we will still be OSU to our fans and alumni and continue to use OSU in our fight song and rally cheers,” Director of Athletics Bob De Carolis said.

Now that we have established ourselves nationally we need to have a clean look in terms of how we represent Oregon State, Beavers and use logos. All 17 of our sports will now have a uniformed look.”

The University requested comment from many groups before implementing OS, including student-athletes, staff, faculty and alumni groups.

Along with the Beavers’ status as a national program, there was a general consensus that the athletic department’s general secondary logos, the block “O” and the “OSU” were confused with several other institutions across the nation, including Oklahoma State which features the same orange and black colors.

“We just asked ourselves - why not OS for Oregon State?" said Morrow, who has worked on identity projects for many sports brands, professional teams and universities, including the University of Notre Dame and the University of Kansas. "We see the Interlocking OS as innovating in the Collegiate marketplace. In the coming years as the Beavers continue to compete nationally on the biggest stages of college sports, fans across the country will know that we are the Oregon State Beavers.”

The second phase of the new identity launch will include new football uniform designs for 2007.

Athletics will unveil its new football uniforms from Nike live on Beaver Nation Online, the audio/video site within www.osubeavers.com, on Fri., April. 27th.

This past year Nike and OSU Athletics signed a new apparel supplier agreement making Nike the exclusive apparel partner for 14 of the 17 Beaver intercollegiate teams.