New logo/brand marks capture historic Hatter
spirit, progressive movement into future
The secret is out! And the big reveal now has become the rich reward — with a new energetic look and feel for Stetson Athletics and Hatter Nation.
During Stetson’s annual Late Night Breakfast at the Rinker Field House tonight, athletes took the stage for a “fashion show,” wearing new Nike® uniforms that sported freshly restyled Athletics logo/brand marks designed to capture both historic Hatter spirit and progressive movement into the future.
A day earlier, Stetson Athletics Director Jeff Altier saluted the diligence of a committee that had spent two years in research and development, encompassing all sectors of the Stetson community – students, faculty, alumni, Trustees, former athletes, coaches and others.
“I am very proud of the work they did,” said Altier. “This group took a great deal of time and effort to solicit input from many, many focus groups, allowing students, faculty, staff and alumni the opportunity to influence the final result.
“The new Stetson logos and branding give the entire Stetson University community a set of icons to be proud of,” commented Ricky Hazel, associate director of Athletics. “The logos honor the long history of Hatters Athletics while at the same time reflecting a clean, modern feel that will carry well into the future.”
The highlight of the logo redesign is a warm embrace of the Stetson “S” in place of “SU.” Also gone is the hat sitting tilted atop the SU. Instead, a new centered, tilted hat is introduced and neatly incorporated into the Stetson “S” to infuse “energy” and “excitement.” The hat comes with a lively accent band.
Notably, the lone S is a return to Stetson’s past, when it was the standard-bearer for Hatter Athletics for nearly a century. In the late 1990s, a transition away from the “S” brought “SU.” Lately, however, Altier had said that “people saw the ‘SU’ and they saw the hat, and they immediately thought West. So, they were thinking Stetson was in Texas.”
To further strengthen ties to tradition, the existing Stetson Athletics’ Hatter Green (a dark shade of green) and the university’s Stetson Green (a lighter, brighter shade of green) are the lone predominate colors, accompanied only by white, black and gray — with their use strictly outlined in a Stetson Athletics brand identity book.
The signature use of two different greens is “very uncommon” in intercollegiate athletics, noted Joel Jones, assistant vice president of University Marketing. He called their use “distinctive” and “ownable.”
“We purposefully brought in the brighter university green and married it with Athletics green, because we didn’t want to lose any of our history, tradition and nostalgia,” Jones explained.
So with a nod to the past, a new era beckons for Stetson Athletics.
Learn more about Stetson’s journey to a new brand look for Athletics on Stetson Today.
