Logo Hierarchy?

[Glory to the Green]

I tried to find one for North Texas, but wasn’t able to find an easy to use one pager. Thought OSU’s Tier 4 was pretty good.  For UNT, Golf Scrappy comes to mind, but that’s about it.   Like others have stated, it feels like our branding could use work. 

[ADLER]

It does exist for North Texas, but...

The athletics department treats that information much the same way a dog treats a fire hydrant.

School colors as approved by North Texas Board of Regents

Our school colors are Green and White as selected by the student body in 1904. Since 2006 black is approved only as a tertiary color for outlining green or white logos and is only permitted for logos printed on monochromatic documents where green is not an option. Any deviation from this format is a violation of university policy.

Other schools strictly adhere to their university colors and their branding is immediately recognizable. We don't, and for the last decade we have wound up with a hodgepodge of colors and throwback logos. Basically, despite athletic success our branding has gone to shit in the last decade. Our university's identity is aligned with a color more than just about any school in the country yet we have allowed athletics staff and teams to continually utilize other colors not representative of our school simply because they're "fashionable" and "they personallly like them better".

This same sneaky little shit was previously done 1995-2005 by unofficially adding blue and copper as accent colors. Those colors were also equally horrible but they didn't spill into uniforms and fan gear the way gray and black have.

[UNTethered Eagle]

1 hour ago, ADLER said:

It does exist for North Texas, but...

The athletics department treats that information much the same way a dog treats a fire hydrant.

School colors as approved by North Texas Board of Regents

Our school colors are Green and White as selected by the student body in 1904. Since 2006 black is approved only as a tertiary color for outlining green or white logos and is only permitted for logos printed on monochromatic documents where green is not an option. Any deviation from this format is a violation of university policy.

Other schools strictly adhere to their university colors and their branding is immediately recognizable. We don't, and for the last decade we have wound up with a hodgepodge of colors and throwback logos. Basically, despite athletic success our branding has gone to shit in the last decade. Our university's identity is aligned with a color more than just about any school in the country yet we have allowed athletics staff and teams to continually utilize other colors not representative of our school simply because they're "fashionable" and "they personallly like them better".

This same sneaky little shit was previously done 1995-2005 by unofficially adding blue and copper as accent colors. Those colors were also equally horrible but they didn't spill into uniforms and fan gear the way gray and black have.

I know logo and branding talk aren’t all that exciting but I completely agree with you in this.

 

It seems like such low hanging fruit to get our logo and color schemes coordinated and adhered to. We talk about history and legacy on this forum with regard to our sports and coaches but hardly see the same attention given to this topic. Would at the very least help separate us from the North Texas State comments by tv announcers.

[keith]

New coach, new era...time for a rebranding of our football program.  Using UCF as a model, I'd like to see us go with and use UNT over North Texas.  I know this is somewhat controversial, but I'm tired of seeing multiple representations (North Texas, N. Texas, North Tex., Nor. Texas or the worst No Texas in all the sports tickers) of our school. Talk about destroying your brand.  Yes, there are examples of universities that have been able to overcome their directional name, but to the great unwashed we are no different than Southern New Hampshire.  UCF has avoided it completely.  The younger generation usually refers to UNT as the school they go/went to.  We should embrace that.

While we are at it, we need to get rid of the awful eagle feathers helmet logo or any logo that utilizes an outline/map of the state.  Put a little Texas outline on the back or something, but not as part of the primary logo.  It reeks of desperation.

[ADLER]

And how exactly has this lack of adherence to our branding affected us? Let's look at the recent CUSA Championship.

UTSA, a city commuter college until a decade ago, was a sea of orange and blue..

North Texas, with long established athletics, other than the Brigade, a splotch of gray and black in the dome. These were many of our most dedicated fans.

This single INTENTIONAL OVERSIGHT, mostly because black and gray gear is easier for distributors to find, has done a world of damage to our school spirit.

If people don't feel that they are a part of something special, don't expect them to get emotionally invested or anxious to make financial contributions.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

7 minutes ago, ADLER said:

And how exactly has this lack of adherence to our branding affected us? Let's look at the recent CUSA Championship.

UTSA, a city commuter college until a decade ago, was a sea of orange and blue..

North Texas, with long established athletics, other than the Brigade, a splotch of gray and black in the dome. These were many of our most dedicated fans.

This single INTENTIONAL OVERSIGHT, mostly because black and gray gear is easier for distributors to find, has done a world of damage to our school spirit.

If people don't feel that they are a part of something special, don't expect them to get emotionally invested or anxious to make financial contributions.

[ADLER]

According to Wikipedia:

School colors (also known as university colors or college colors) are the colors chosen by a school as part of its brand identity, used on building signage, web pages, branded apparel, and the uniforms of sports teams. They promote connection to the school – or 'school spirit' – and help differentiate it from other institutions.

What have we been allowing to go wrong? How do gray and black benefit us? Are Neal Smatresk and Jared Mosley up to the challenge of correcting this horrible trend?

[UNTcrazy727]

7 hours ago, Glory to the Green said:

I tried to find one for North Texas, but wasn’t able to find an easy to use one pager. Thought OSU’s Tier 4 was pretty good.  For UNT, Golf Scrappy comes to mind, but that’s about it.   Like others have stated, it feels like our branding could use work. 

This is great. It's frustrating UNT seems to believe there is only 1 tier. Literally, all we have is the "diving eagle" and the UNT and North Texas scripts. Our lack of approved logos is why our merchandise all has the same generic look. 

[Pseudo Nym]

7 hours ago, Glory to the Green said:

I tried to find one for North Texas, but wasn’t able to find an easy to use one pager....  Like others have stated, it feels like our branding could use work. 
 

We've had a style guide for a while, and now it looks like we have a more comprehensive identity guide, here's a link to it:

https://identityguide.unt.edu/

It has been a standard requirement for all departments/entities/organizations to follow the guide for uniformity and consistent messaging.

If you look around, you'll see it's pretty comprehensive and easy to navigate:

https://identityguide.unt.edu/create-our-look

[emmitt01]

5 minutes ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

This is great. It's frustrating UNT seems to believe there is only 1 tier. Literally, all we have is the "diving eagle" and the UNT and North Texas scripts. Our lack of approved logos is why our merchandise all has the same generic look. 

Let me say first that I despise UT and all their overrated teams.  
 

With that said, they don’t try to trick things up and you will see one of the following two logos on 95% of their gear/clothing/merchandise.  
 

 

[UNTcrazy727]

1 hour ago, keith said:

New coach, new era...time for a rebranding of our football program.  Using UCF as a model, I'd like to see us go with and use UNT over North Texas.  I know this is somewhat controversial, but I'm tired of seeing multiple representations (North Texas, N. Texas, North Tex., Nor. Texas or the worst No Texas in all the sports tickers) of our school. Talk about destroying your brand.  Yes, there are examples of universities that have been able to overcome their directional name, but to the great unwashed we are no different than Southern New Hampshire.  UCF has avoided it completely.  The younger generation usually refers to UNT as the school they go/went to.  We should embrace that.

While we are at it, we need to get rid of the awful eagle feathers helmet logo or any logo that utilizes an outline/map of the state.  Put a little Texas outline on the back or something, but not as part of the primary logo.  It reeks of desperation.

If it was up to me I'd go by North Texas and bring back the interlocking "NT" as a primary logo along side the "diving eagle". Its a logo we've used multiple times throughout our history and I hate how its been relegated to only being used for the alumni and Letterwinner's associations. We could even use an updated version that has the same font as the North Texas script we've been using for years. 

That being said, it seems pretty clear the school and athletic department are hell bent on moving to UNT. If that's the route we want to go then we need to design a new logo for our athletics teams. A lot of programs use different branding than their universities. University branding tends to be dull, corporate, and lifeless. UNT is no different, which is why we need an overhaul. 

You mentioned UCF as a model and I agree, they have great branding. But look how drastically different the athletics logos are compared to the university...our leadership needs to drop the idea that branding for the school and athletics has to be the exact same. 

Athletics:

University:

[DentonLurker]

7 minutes ago, emmitt01 said:

That's the Tennessee T. UT Austin's block T is more standard like below. This actually kind of proves the point of how confusing this stuff can get if you're not careful with how you brand things and protect your brands.

[UNTcrazy727]

22 minutes ago, emmitt01 said:

Let me say first that I despise UT and all their overrated teams.  
 

With that said, they don’t try to trick things up and you will see one of the following two logos on 95% of their gear/clothing/merchandise.  
 

 

They don't have to trick things up because they have one of the most recognizable logos in American sports. Can't say the same thing about UNT. 

And even then, Texas still puts out more throwback and secondary logo merch than UNT has ever allowed.

 

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by UNTcrazy727

[UNTLifer]

17 minutes ago, DentonLurker said:

That's the Tennessee T. UT Austin's block T is more standard like below. This actually kind of proves the point of how confusing this stuff can get if you're not careful with how you brand things and protect your brands.

[emmitt01]

21 minutes ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

They don't have to trick things up because they have one of the most recognizable logos in American sports. Can't say the same thing about UNT. 

And even then, Texas still puts out more throwback and secondary logo merch than UNT has ever allowed.

 

 

And how exactly did they get “one of the most recognizable logos in American sports”?  
 

Maybe by sticking with something and putting it on literally everything?  🤔🤔

Edited December 28, 2022 by emmitt01

[El Paso Eagle]

MEAN GREEN   should be at the forefront of our focus.  One of the best team names in college sports. 

[UNTcrazy727]

16 minutes ago, emmitt01 said:

And how exactly did they get “one of the most recognizable logos in American sports”?  
 

Maybe by sticking with something and putting it on literally everything?  🤔🤔

They won...a lot. 

I agree with sticking with something that works, but what we currently have ain't it. 

[NorthTexasWeLove]

We need to drop the North Texas charade. Every respectable directional school or elongated name uses acronyms. UCF, SMU, FAU, ECU, UTEP, USC, etc. 

MAC directional schools and FCS say the entire name for recognition. Eastern Wash, Northern Arizona, all of the MACs, North Dak St, etc. 

We are UNT. North Texas is the region in which UNT sits. Don't worry, we can still do our North - Texas chant at games. 

[Cr1028]

6 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

We need to drop the North Texas charade. Every respectable directional school or elongated name uses acronyms. UCF, SMU, FAU, ECU, UTEP, USC, etc. 

MAC directional schools and FCS say the entire name for recognition. Eastern Wash, Northern Arizona, all of the MACs, North Dak St, etc. 

We are UNT. North Texas is the region in which UNT sits. Don't worry, we can still do our North - Texas chant at games. 

Not every Mean Green alumnus has attended UNT but all of us have attended an iteration of North Texas whether that be the University of North Texas, North Texas State, or North Texas Normal. It is the name that rings common to us all. Don’t ditch North Texas for some ULM type BS.

[CMJ]

23 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

We need to drop the North Texas charade. Every respectable directional school or elongated name uses acronyms. UCF, SMU, FAU, ECU, UTEP, USC, etc. 

MAC directional schools and FCS say the entire name for recognition. Eastern Wash, Northern Arizona, all of the MACs, North Dak St, etc. 

We are UNT. North Texas is the region in which UNT sits. Don't worry, we can still do our North - Texas chant at games. 

Maybe not nationally, but USC uses just SC a whole lot out in California.  In fact I'd say it's nearly 50/50 among the Trojan grads I know.

[Green with Envy]

20 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

We need to drop the North Texas charade. Every respectable directional school or elongated name uses acronyms. UCF, SMU, FAU, ECU, UTEP, USC, etc. 

MAC directional schools and FCS say the entire name for recognition. Eastern Wash, Northern Arizona, all of the MACs, North Dak St, etc. 

We are UNT. North Texas is the region in which UNT sits. Don't worry, we can still do our North - Texas chant at games. 

I think part of the challenge comes in how easy it is to say one versus the other, as silly as that sounds.   All of the examples you listed as initials are very long names to pronounce, while their initials are very quick.   North Texas vs UNT is nearly a wash and North Texas doesn’t have to be followed by an explanation.  

[emmitt01]

30 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

We need to drop the North Texas charade. Every respectable directional school or elongated name uses acronyms. UCF, SMU, FAU, ECU, UTEP, USC, etc. 

MAC directional schools and FCS say the entire name for recognition. Eastern Wash, Northern Arizona, all of the MACs, North Dak St, etc. 

We are UNT. North Texas is the region in which UNT sits. Don't worry, we can still do our North - Texas chant at games. 

“North Texas” is literally the only thing that has been in every name the school has ever had, from North Texas Normal College and Teacher Training Institute in 1890 all the way up to today’s University of North Texas.  
 

I get it, new generations want to see new and “hip” changes.   But traditions, like facts, aren’t about your feelings.  

[meaniegreenie]

2 hours ago, ADLER said:

And how exactly has this lack of adherence to our branding affected us? Let's look at the recent CUSA Championship.

 

North Texas, with long established athletics, other than the Brigade, a splotch of gray and black in the dome. These were many of our most dedicated fans.

This single INTENTIONAL OVERSIGHT, mostly because black and gray gear is easier for distributors to find, has done a world of damage to our school spirit.

If people don't feel that they are a part of something special, don't expect them to get emotionally invested or anxious to make financial contributions.

This goes back at least 35 years when I first began noticing the "green black brigade" during halftime performances.

[UNTcrazy727]

https://www.tampabay.com/education/usf-abandons-unpopular-new-logo-adopts-bull-u-design-used-by-athletic-department-20190506/

Interesting article from a few years back about USF ditching the "Academic" branding in favor of the much preferred "Athletics" branding. Over the last few years, UNT has kind of been doing the opposite. Further pushing our "Academic" branding onto athletics. 

[ADLER]

1 hour ago, El Paso Eagle said:

MEAN GREEN   should be at the forefront of our focus.  One of the best team names in college sports. 

Well, .............there's not even a noun in our team name, but it's what we've got. Let's make the most of it.

If we are going to be Mean Green, then we sure as hell better be outfitted in Green. Not just wearing Green, but totally ensconcing ourselves in Green.

It's time for all our sports to get rid of all the gray and black substitutes for uniforms, get the Brigade to stop playing Paint it Black, and separate from everything else that is so obviously detrimental to our branding.