Evolution of Tribe pride: College unveils new logo
In what is more of an evolution than
revolution of its trademark symbol, the College of William and Mary
unveiled a new logo design Thursday that is intended to simplify and
unify its visual image across campus.
The design—which features an updated approach to the College’s
well-known W&M in four similar designs—will be incorporated as a
core symbol of not only the athletics department but the campus
community as a whole. The new design is also a return to the more
traditional colors of green and gold—instead of the more recently used
green and yellow.
“I’m grateful for the important work of our logo committee—recommending
a new look and bringing a welcome consistency to those symbols used to
represent the College,” said William and Mary President Gene R. Nichol.
“The passing months have given us no greater esteem for the NCAA’s
misguided decision to prohibit the feathers in our past logo. However,
Sam Sadler and this impressive group of faculty, staff, alumni and
students have advanced a design that will remind generations of William
and Mary faithful of Tribe Pride. I’m pleased with the result.”
Following a ruling by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 2006 that deemed William and Mary’s athletic logo—which included two green and gold feathers—impermissibly “hostile and abusive,” the College announced it would begin the process of developing a new logo. President Nichol asked Sadler, vice president for student affairs, to chair the committee, which also included alumni, students, faculty, staff and members of the local community.
Work began last school year with phase one of
the committee’s work—developing an updated logo. The second phase of
the committee’s work will be exploring whether the College should adopt
a mascot.
In developing the new design, the logo committee established a Web site
and solicited feedback and suggestions from the College community in
the spring semester, quickly learning that this assignment involved
more than just selecting a new athletic logo. It was an opportunity to
both modernize the current design and unify a growing number of symbols
that unofficially represented the institution in recent years.
“When we started looking at this process, we realized that in addition
to the athletic logo there are a total of 12 different marks registered
as symbols representing the College,” Sadler said. “At times, it can be
confusing so our goal was not only to comply with the NCAA ruling but
pick a design that could bring consistency to the symbols that
represent our historic College.”
After reviewing roughly 600 possible designs, Sadler said, the
committee kept coming back to one design that was already in use—a “W”
and “M” separated by the traditional ampersand—and explored improving
and updating that mark. Once they had a good idea about the starting
point of the updated design, the logo committee enlisted the expert
knowledge of Phoenix Design Works, a New York-based company with
extensive experience in designing logos for colleges and universities.
They also received help from one of their own committee members. Connie
Desaulniers, a member of the Class of 1975 and a noted Williamsburg
artist, drew the distinct and smaller ampersand that is incorporated in
the new design. The four designs all incorporate variations of the
updated “W&M,” including one with offset letters inside a crest and
another where WM (without an ampersand) is inside a circle with the
surrounding script “The College of William and Mary * 1693.” Two other
versions include W&M side-by-side and offset.
Don Rahtz, professor at the Mason School of Business at William and
Mary and member of the logo committee, said the committee found a wide
variety of logos and symbols in its assessment of the College's current
letterheads and signage across the campus.
"Most universities, corporate, and public entities will use one or two
main unifying identity symbols to represent themselves both internally
and externally,” said Rahtz, an expert in marketing communications.
“When we began our review of the logos and identity symbols in use at
William and Mary, we were struck by how many were in use. Over the
years, literally dozens had been developed and used across both
academic and administrative units. We were all surprised to see how
many variations of the William and Mary symbols were out there."
Rahtz added, “While the NCAA decision might have been the catalyst, the
committee realized the importance of selecting a core design that would
be able to provide a focal point for university communications, as well
as offer some unity in regards to its internal and external identity.”
Implementation of the new design will take place over the next several
months. For example, the College will immediately begin ordering
athletic uniforms with the new logo and notify retailers and vendors.
Some products with the new logo could be available by Charter Day while
a larger rollout of William and Mary merchandise will occur over the
spring and summer semesters. President Nichol has also charged Provost
Geoff Feiss to appoint a campus committee of faculty and staff to
address an internal implementation. This phasing in of the design over
the next several months within offices, departments and schools across
the campus on items such as business cards, stationary and
publications. The College’s new redesigned Web page—expected to go
public in the fall of 2008—is expected to feature the design.
William and Mary’s decision to change its logo is related to a review
that began in 2004 by the National Collegiate Athletic Association of
more than 30 universities’ use of mascots, nicknames, logos and imagery
associated with Native Americans to determine whether they were
“hostile and abusive.” In May 2006, the NCAA ruled that William and
Mary’s “Tribe” nickname was neither hostile nor abusive but determined
that the athletic logo—which contained two green and gold
feathers—could create an environment that is offensive. William and
Mary appealed that decision in June 2006 to the NCAA Executive
Committee. That appeal was denied two months later.
“This was truly an inclusive process and each member of the committee—from the students to the administration to the alumni—took this responsibility very seriously,” said William and Mary Director of Athletics Terry Driscoll, who also served on the logo committee. “I look forward to seeing this design early and often in a packed Zable stadium and Kaplan Arena in the coming months.”
The committee will now turn its attention to the second part of their work, Sadler said, and will begin addressing the mascot question. That process will also involve members from across the campus community, he said.
In addition to Sadler, the logo committee included alumni Karen Cottrell (’66), who is executive director of the William and Mary Alumni Association, Connie Desaulniers (’75), Jim Kelly (’51), and Nancy Matthews (’76); faculty members Marlene Jack, professor of art history, and Don Rahtz, professor of the Mason School of Business; student representatives Kendra Boykin, graduate student at the School of Education, Tom Yake (’08), and Ryan Scofield (’07) and Kyra Kaylor (’07), who were both seniors last year; athletics department representatives Terry Driscoll, director of intercollegiate athletics and Peel Hawthorne (’80), coach of women’s field hockey; and administration representative Stewart Gamage (’72), vice president of public affairs.
