Rutgers Athletics Unveils Consistent Look Across All Sports
May 03 | General
Secondary logo background 
| Chainmail design background
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers University Department of Athletics, in partnership with Nike, unveiled an updated brand and identity system at the annual R Awards at the RAC this evening. The refreshed secondary mark and added elements create consistency for an athletics program poised to complete its second successful season in the Big Ten, the nation's premier athletic and academic Conference.
Student-athletes represented all 24 sports on stage during tonight's R Awards by wearing the Block R and the new secondary mark, headlined by new football, women's soccer and men's and women's basketball uniforms.
"Having strong brand identity is fundamental to our success," said Director of Athletics Patrick Hobbs. "We want our programs to have a consistent look that projects our bold aspirations on the playing field. We are thankful to our partners at Nike for working with us to accomplish this goal."
Over the past 18 months, Rutgers and Nike collaborated on the brand evolution program that honors the transformative and hardworking nature of its teams and personnel. Rutgers and Nike worked with student-athletes, coaches, administrators and alumni to pay tribute to key attributes of the institution.
As part of the updated brand identity, all 24 Rutgers teams will showcase consistent colors, logos, lettering and numerals over the course of the next few seasons. The football uniforms offer a very traditional look, with visibly larger numbers, chainmail pattern and new helmets. Women's basketball, Women's Soccer and Men's Basketball also support traditional looks, and add both the chainmail and secondary mark as well.
The Block R (spirit mark) is the emblem for strong, emotive support given by students, alumni and all those associated with Rutgers. The Block R suggests pride and affinity and will continue to serve as the primary logo for Rutgers University Athletics.
"The Block R is who we are, impactful and representative of the whole University, so that is untouched," said Hobbs. "Nike created a great secondary mark for us to enhance our story and brand identity."
In the early 1950's, a campus-wide selection process led to the establishment of the Scarlet Knight as the official Rutgers' mascot. It came to represent a new era - the rejuvenation of first class football "On the Banks." The newly-developed secondary logo is a graphic representation of the Scarlet Knight mascot that appears on game day - sitting in profile, proud and purposeful.
In addition to the logos, color is quintessential to the Rutgers Athletics brand. Scarlet was first proposed in the campus newspaper, The Targum, in May 1869. It was adopted in 1900, making Rutgers one of the first colleges in the United States to have an official school color. Through the years, Scarlet has become highly emblematic of the college itself. The Scarlet color will be consistent throughout all the uniforms over the next few seasons.
Chainmail is the earliest form of metal armor worn by warriors and is believed to have been invented before the 5th century. It provided protection and was an innovative garment for its time, allowing flexibility and ease of movement. Now, the chainmail pattern is meant to symbolize the unification of five campuses coming together to create one strong Rutgers. Taking visual cues from the letterforms the chain mail links have a mix of curved and angular connections forming a strong, distinctive shape. The chainmail pattern will be used as an element on various uniforms and warm ups.
In addition to the secondary mark, color consistency and pattern, Rutgers Athletics will have a consistent numeral set, font and word marks.
Fans can purchase apparel sporting the new secondary logo at four locations immediately. Those locations are Scarlet Fever, Team Retail Solutions kiosk located at the North Gate of High Point Solutions Stadium (May 4th from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.), www.RutgersShop.com and Fanatics.com. Other retail outlets will carry merchandise in the early summer.
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