ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ logo history

Since the 1930s the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ sports mascot has been the polar bear. In 1963 the Polar Bears became known as the Nanooks, from the Inupiaq word for polar bear.

1960s

In the 1960s UA President William Wood commissioned a student to draw a polar bear from one of Fred Machetanz' paintings. An ink drawing was done that was later refined into a graphic featuring the letters UA and a lumbering bear going across them.

1975

In response to a major statewide university restructuring in 1975, the university was renamed ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ, forcing the need for a new logo. The F was added to the UA logo and the bear was redrawn.

1985

ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Chancellor Patrick O'Rourke introduced a new logotype in 1985 featuring the name of the institution, three lines and a very small image of the nanook.

1990

Chancellor O'Rourke sent out a memo on the implementation of the institutional identity requesting the use of the official ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ logo and script type on all communications from ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ.

1995-96

In 1995-96 university graphic designers teamed up to look at updating the university's graphic identity, eventually creating the popular Aurora Bear image which illustrates ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ's Land, Sea and Space grant status using the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ mascot, stylized aurora, mountains and the ocean. This graphic is bold, clearly a polar bear, works well in print and web publications and represents input received from many areas of campus so it was well supported.

1997

A new ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ logo was developed in conjunction with a new marketing and enrollment initiative aimed at ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ high school students. ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ designers, working with a marketing firm based in ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ, developed a mark with the letters ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ overlapped in the colors pink, teal and yellow to be used in student recruiting publications. The marketing firm recommended that the polar bear image not be used as part of ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ's logo or on any student recruiting publications since polar bears were perceived to be unfriendly by tested focus groups.

1999

The ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ logo image was modified to appear in one color - ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ's bright blue. There was considerable disagreement on eliminating the polar bear image from marketing efforts. There was a growing affection for the mascot which grew out of this. Eventually the bear from the aurora bear artwork was successfully melded into the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ logo. This image forms the basis of the current ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ graphic identity.

2000

Chancellor Marshall Lind sent out a memo formalizing the adoption of the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ logo and encouraged all departments to incorporate it into their printed materials. The ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ logo was extremely well received, and helped present ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ in a cohesive manner.

2006

An alternate version of the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ logo is created that emphasized the word "ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ" rather than the word "Fairbanks."

2011

Chancellor Brian Rogers sent out a memo requesting the use of the official ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ logo on all communications from ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ, formalizing the adoption of the logo that emphasized the word "ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ" and retiring the version that emphasized the word "Fairbanks."

2012

ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ adopted its current brand and signature system that effectively links our campuses, schools, academic and research units, and administrative offices with the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ brand.