Long Beach State Athletics Unveils Visual Identity
7/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | General
July 15, 2014
Long Beach, Calif. - Long Beach State Athletics is proud to unveil a refreshed visual identity that includes a word mark, a new font, refreshed logos, and other improvements that will serve a variety of goals: ensuring continuity regarding program names and marks, increasing pride and support among fans and the Long Beach community, and helping to celebrate the successes of LBSU's athletic program, which recently won its fourth straight Big West Commissioner's Cup.
The refreshed visual identity will provide an increased focus on the athletic programs of the only four-year university in the city of Long Beach, as well as a concentration on the moniker, "The Beach." The team nickname for all sports except baseball will remain the 49ers, as it has been since the university's founding in 1949.
The first step in this process is the introduction of refreshed logos, which will immediately look familiar to Long Beach State supporters.
"The traditional marks that we have had are very important to us and our supporters, which is why we maintained the integrity of the LB monogram, and kept the popular Beach script," said Director of Athletics, Vic Cegles. "But at the same time, we have to keep moving the athletic program forward in such a way that we can continue to attract outstanding student-athletes to our program which was the key factor in prompting these improvements."
The changing of the classic interlocking LB allows for a separation of identity from other local schools that use the traditional design, while not deviating from a classic look that is inseparable from what defines Long Beach State.
"Having great success in the classroom and in competition, it became important for us to take the next step and enhance our brand," said Cegles. "It is extremely necessary to have a unified look, a unified brand that goes across all sports, and runs throughout the department."
Complementing that process is the addition of two new elements - a tertiary mark as well as a script that will be used in identifying the school in a word mark, on team uniforms, and on apparel.
All of these changes were made in partnership with Andy Hoang, Associate Vice President for University Relations and Communications.
"These new updates are versatile, dynamic, and reflective of the University's athletic programs in a forward-thinking manner," said Cegles. "We could not have reached this point without the support of our University partners, specifically Andy Hoang and his team on campus. They have a comprehensive campus vision and understand the role athletics plays in its execution."
"The identity of Long Beach State Athletics is iconic, with a rich tradition of representing the university and the city with a great sense of pride and success," added Hoang. "It's our vision to evolve the image and story of athletics in a meaningful way that will unify the students, faculty, staff and alumni and community to support our student-athletes."
In order to maintain this continuity of purpose, Long Beach State Athletics has developed a visual identity and branding guide, which includes information on which practices to use when acting with either the word mark, script or any LBSU logo.
View the Long Beach State Visual Identity & Branding Guide
"While we understand that these changes may take time to take hold, their impact will ultimately be felt nationwide," said Assistant Athletics Director for Media Relations, Roger Kirk. "The script, logos and direction from these changes will help continue to grow the unique impact that Long Beach State has on collegiate athletics."
For fans wondering about Long Beach State's iconic baseball program, the script and interlocking LB will be making the change, but what won't change is the Dirtbags nickname and logo.
"The Dirtbags nickname is derived from a style of play where adversity is met head on without any excuses," said LBSU head coach Troy Buckley. "A Dirtbag will persevere, compete, is mentally strong, makes the most out of his talent and finds a way to win. The Dirtbag name is earned through an understanding and respect for the game."
The official Long Beach State Athletics website, www.longbeachstate.com, as well as the department's numerous social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube among others will also be updated to mark the changes in branding.
Continuing in the spirit of the identity changes, Long Beach State will be making a name change in the athletics program's development arm, capitalizing on what has been the school's most notable sobriquet, renaming the 49er Athletic Club to the Beach Athletic Club.
"We believe renaming our primary booster organization to the Beach Athletic Club creates a tremendous opportunity," said Senior Associate Athletics Director for Major Gifts, Wayne Stickney. "As the only Division I university in the country with `Beach' in its name, we feel our booster club should reflect this unique tie to both the university and the city. Along with this name change, we will have five staff members focused on increasing memberships. The Beach Athletic Club membership model allows supporters to direct their funds to our area of greatest need, scholarship, and/or directly to any of our sport teams.
In addition to altering the Beach Athletic Club name, interested donors and fans will soon have a new online portal for scholarship fundraising information at www.beachathleticclub.com, easing navigation and providing a new space for development discussion.
The changes made for Long Beach State and for the Beach Athletic Club have already led to dividends in terms of fundraising for major projects, most spectacularly in the Walter Pyramid.
A group of alumni has pledged a $100,000 gift, the largest major gift for athletics of its kind, dedicated to making improvements throughout athletics. The gift will be used to re-establish the Long Beach State identity within Athletic facilities, coaching and team areas, and offices and will assist in properly recognizing our program's past history, present success, and future vision. The project is scheduled to begin in October, with notable improvements continuing into the spring.
"Our supporters and alumni deserve a well-designed, holistic experience at our athletic venues due to their affinity and generosity towards The Beach," said Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Relations, Dedan Brozino. "The improvements generated by this private gift will allow us to properly tell a tangible, meaningful story through a visible journey to complement the actions and accomplishments of our student-athletes."
Within the Walter Pyramid, work is already underway in replacing the original floor from the 1994 opening, which has seen countless use over the past 20 years. The new floor will still have space for five full basketball courts and nine volleyball courts over 38,000 square feet and include new conduits and up-to-date power and electronic wiring. The wood material for the floor will be upgraded from Beechwood to Maple and the concrete flooring will be leveled as part of the project.
Connor Sports Flooring handles all floor creation for the Division I Basketball Tournaments as well as special events including ESPN Events aircraft carrier games, and is contracted for the project.
The palm tree design of the floor, which received national attention as one of the best new courts in the nation when it debuted two years ago, will receive subtle changes. The palm trees will now all be oriented to face a broadcast position as will the Walter Pyramid logos, the three-point arcs will be stained rather than painted, and Long Beach State's word mark will be featured on an apron featuring a pyramid pattern.
Long Beach State is also looking to add a new, non-permanent marketing and customer service hub on the concourse of the Walter Pyramid, which will have monitors for fan interaction, cell phone charging stations, and the ability to show game highlights and other information while serving as the fan headquarters on the concourse for all four Walter Pyramid sports.
