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PENN STATE rebranding concept/vision (UPDATE: 23.Oct.2014, Post #45)


BroadSt_Bully

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Just went to take a look at the proof I had made. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. I decided to alter it from a folding flipbook to a booklet with coil binding ? very sharp.

The printer is executing a production run of 8 today and I'll be shipping it off tomorrow!

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Did you contact PSU athletics, or are you just sending this unsolicited?

I have a few contacts and they are aware that I put this together, but it is unsolicited. I doubt anything will become of it, but I'm curious to see what its reception will be.

By the way, I checked out the BG website. Very impressive!

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  • 2 years later...

After nearly 3 years since its original unveiling, it's time to revisit the concept and tweak it a bit.

  1. The angles of the keystone are more acute and aggressive than before.
  2. The Block-'S' has been slimmed and the square serifs have been removed. This, coupled with the more angular keystone, better align the mark with its original counterpart found on early 20th century jerseys and in vintage yearbooks.
  3. Silver has been introduced as an accent color, outlining the keystone. I'm also giving some thought to a limestone or cream color as a substitute.
  4. The wordmark has been entirely redeveloped, drawing inspiration from the art deco Pollock Gates on campus. The signage font, closely resembling Symbojet Bold or Lapidaria Minor SemiBold, nicely complements the Block-'S' (rather than mirroring it as before) and has been customized with the addition of half-keystones as serifs, along with some other modifications – notably the double-'N' combination and the connection of the 'S' and 'T'.

I'm interested to hear everyone's thoughts on this!

CIihpOs.jpg

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I like the slimmer looking Block S. It allows for a distinction between the Michigan State S and the Penn State S. Not sold on the gray outline, but I applaud the attempt of the gray because it is a defacto tertiary color (see the branding guide / numerous non-football uniforms).

I don't hate the font used for "PENN STATE", it is better than the generic font used today. I do not like the NN combined. The ST combined looks good though. I also like the vertical alignment of PENN STATE as it looks good stacked.

Personally, I prefer the PENN STATE font to be like the font in the picture below:

peter-russell-matt-seifert-ben-patch-0e8

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I like the slimmer looking Block S. It allows for a distinction between the Michigan State S and the Penn State S. Not sold on the gray outline, but I applaud the attempt of the gray because it is a defacto tertiary color (see the branding guide / numerous non-football uniforms).

I don't hate the font used for "PENN STATE", it is better than the generic font used today. I do not like the NN combined. The ST combined looks good though. I also like the vertical alignment of PENN STATE as it looks good stacked.

Personally, I prefer the PENN STATE font to be like the font in the picture below:

peter-russell-matt-seifert-ben-patch-0e8

So, the reason I combined the two N's together was because the long diagonal shafts, coupled with the right vertical shaft of the first 'N' and the left vertical shaft of the second 'N' created a strange visual phenomenon – bunching of relatively light-weight elements adjacent to large empty spaces – that really unbalanced the entire wordmark. I tried to mitigate this effect by combining the two letters, which has the added benefit of harmonizing with the combined 'ST', especially in a horizontal construction.

You can really see this when the two arrangements are juxtaposed. Who knows? Maybe it's just me.

VrUVCYk.png

I also went ahead and included the separate N's in the Shrine image so you can see how it looks stacked.

8X08XnA.jpg

As for the block wordmark and the clunkier Block-'S' which I used in my original proposal, it doesn't really fit or mesh well with the leaner, meaner Keystone-'S'. I have always been a huge fan of it as well.

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I see what you're saying with the Ns. I prefer them combined as well.

That limestone-ish color is perfect. Sand wouldn't work, and gray or silver is almost cliche (for one-color & white teams who don't use black as a third color.) This is unique and a nice compromise between the two.

I love the presentation and i see nothing wrong with the logo!

Edit: i was wondering why you placed a white underlay/shadow on a white wordmark... But then i realized they're keystone shapes. Freaking genius!!

(Sorry if it was mentioned, i don't think I've visited this thread before now.)

Edit 2: i skimmed the description above initially. Now, after reading thoroughly, i see that you did point that out. Again, great idea!

BROWNS | BUCKEYES | CAVALIERS | INDIANS |

 

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A couple of tweaks:

  • I changed the silver stroke (Pantone 429 C) to a more distinctive and unique limestone color (Pantone Warm Gray 5 C), representative of the geology of the valley floors in central Pennsylvania.
  • Keystone serifs have been added to the rest of the letters in the wordmark. It looked odd previously with some having them and others not.
Also, I experimented with a darker navy blue (unfortunately can't find a Pantone equivalent) and some artistic beveling in subsequent iterations.

C&C appreciated!

FF1vWSL.png

hnedTCH.png

eEjc1sf.png

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As a Penn State fan, I really enjoy this concept and rebrand. However, I can't get past the fact that you pretty much ignored the lion in the rebrand. Heck, it pretty much seems like you renamed the team the "Penn State Keystones." I would at least add some form of a lion as an alt logo

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As a Penn State fan, I really enjoy this concept and rebrand. However, I can't get past the fact that you pretty much ignored the lion in the rebrand. Heck, it pretty much seems like you renamed the team the "Penn State Keystones." I would at least add some form of a lion as an alt logo

You raise a valid point. Truth be told, I'm not an artist and can't draw worth a lick – especially animals. My speciality, as a cartographer, by trade is with layout, typography and working with geometric shapes.

However, even in the Big Ten, some of our peer institutions' identities don't reflect their mascot or nickname. M*ch*g*n doesn't have a wolverine mark and M*ryl*nd athletics has completely abandoned all Testudo branding in favor of their state pride initiative, which is really one of the inspirations behind this. There are other examples around the country so I don't see a Nittany Lion mark as truly necessary – hell, I question why the design/branding community dictates that every team must have secondary and even tertiary marks – though I welcome someone to take that ball and run with it to design a complimentary mark.

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