THE FLATS – Georgia Tech athletics unveiled a comprehensive brand refinement on Friday. The brand refinement includes the definition of Georgia Tech athletics’ official colors, a new athletics wordmark and a simplification of the iconic interlocking GT logo.
The unveiling of the comprehensive brand refinement is the culmination of a project that began in May 2017. Georgia Tech athletics utilized experts in the design, branding and marketing fields to guide the process – including alumni currently on the staffs at the National Football League and Turner Sports – as well as focus groups, surveys and conversations with alumni, current students, fans, campus leaders and student-athletes to ensure that every decision was based on a wide array of ideas and opinions.
“Since I arrived back on The Flats a year-and-a-half ago, one of our biggest priorities has been to define the Georgia Tech athletics brand,” director of athletics Todd Stansbury said. “I’m grateful for the many, many people who participated in the exercise. The different perspectives shared were vital to the process and I think that everyone is proud of the results of our collaborative efforts – a brand that celebrates the great tradition of Georgia Tech athletics while also embracing our innovative spirit and bright future.”
Official Colors
Highlighting the efforts to define Georgia Tech’s athletics colors is the introduction of Tech Gold, which will serve along with white as GT athletics’ primary colors.
Tech Gold is based on the paint scheme of the Ramblin’ Wreck, the 1930 Ford Model A Sport coupe that appears at all Georgia Tech home football games and other events as a symbol of the Institute. Tech Gold is represented through a non-metallic and metallic color blend, which maintains a consistency throughout materials (thread, print, paint, etc.).
In addition to gold and white serving as Georgia Tech athletics’ official primary colors, navy blue will be used as the official secondary color to provide the contrast needed due to both primary colors being light colors. The decision to move forward with gold, white and blue is rooted in history, as the first mention of official Georgia Tech class colors came in the Atlanta Constitution in 1891 (white, blue and gold) and the first GT class ring in 1894 also featured gold, white and blue.
Official Wordmark
For the first time, Georgia Tech athletics has an official wordmark. The wordmark was designed by Georgia Tech in collaboration with Atlanta-based IMG College Licensing, GT’s exclusive trademark licensing agent since 1983. In addition to Georgia Tech, IMG College Licensing represents nearly 200 colleges and universities, athletic conferences, bowl games, the Heisman Trophy, the NCAA and the College Football Playoff.
The wordmark connects the tradition of Georgia Tech to the innovative spirit of the Institute. The “T” in “Tech” is inspired by the “T” atop campus landmark Tech Tower while the “G,” “R” and “H” all feature modern elements as a nod to innovation.
Among the many places where the wordmark will be featured are the end zones at Bobby Dodd Stadium, the playing court at McCamish Pavilion and on Georgia Tech uniforms and official apparel.
Interlocking GT Logo
Georgia Tech athletics’ most recognizable mark, the interlocking GT, is incredibly important to the GT athletics brand. Therefore, Georgia Tech athletics worked with Institute Communications and campus licensing to narrow the options for how the mark is displayed – going from 40 to 8.
Going forward, the GT logo will always be predominantly one of athletics’ official primary colors – gold or white. The outline will be either gold, white or blue, depending on the background on which the logo is displayed.
The Buzz logo will become a secondary mark and will not be used to solely represent Georgia Tech athletics. Additionally, the Buzz logo will be adjusted from black and yellow to Tech Gold and blue.
