Southwestern University has rolled out a new logo and brand for the entire athletic department.
“The Southwestern University Pirates are unveiling a new athletics logo in a brand relaunch that boldly reaffirms Southwestern’s history as the first institution of higher learning in Texas,” the university wrote. “Rebranding the athletics logo is part of a new initiative by Southwestern to tout its tight-knit culture and increase its national visibility
The rebrand comes thanks to the hard work of University Creative Directory Matt Madsen and student-athlete Mason Biggers.
“Last fall, a student athlete, he was a captain of the football team last year, his name’s Mason Biggers, he came to us, and part of his grad school application was, he wanted to rebrand Southwestern,” Matt Madsen, Creative Director for Southwestern University, told Hello Georgetown. “So, I told him, ‘Yeah, we’re going to rebrand Southwestern, and we’ll help you out on your grad school project. But, if we’re going to swing, we’re going to swing for the fence and actually try to apply this in a real world scenario.’”
Several months and meetings later, Biggers and Madsen had come up with a design that really focused on the spirit of Southwestern. By highlighting elements of both the university’s history and the more modern elements of the school, the new logo has plenty of special features.
“We have an homage to our first athletics logo, we have an indicator that we are the first university in Texas, an indicator that we are battle tested having competed in intercollegiate athletics since the 1800’s,” Madsen said. “There’s a bandanna that falls to the southwestern side of the face…and those little elements that, on it’s face, it looks like an intimidating logo, which is what we want with athletics, that’s what people gravitate towards. But, if we can integrate more of the brand DNA of Southwestern, that’s only going to strengthen the brand for years to come.”
So far, the athletes have responded really positively to the new logo, Madsen said, and are welcoming the change.
Madsen also said with the new branding, he hopes the support that community has already given in abundance to the university continues to grow.
“We want to be more involved with the community, because it is such a great place, and we do get so much support from the community,” Madsen said. “To develop that sense of pride, where people can come out to games on the weekend and support our student athletes, and really rally behind the brand and create a positive brand culture around our athletics because our athletics are great, our student athletes are brilliant people, they’re going to change the world in the future, and Southwestern is really a special place. So, the rest of the world needs to know that.”
Learn more about the logo change and Southwestern University’s athletic history here.
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