The Alaska Nanooks are the intercollegiate athletics teams of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). The Nanooks name comes from “nanuq,” the Inupiaq word for polar bear, and the university’s sports teams were known as the Polar Bears until 1963, when they became the Nanooks.[1] The school colors are blue and gold.[2]
Design and History
The polar bear has served as the UAF sports mascot since the 1930s.[1] In the 1960s, UA President William Wood commissioned a student to draw a polar bear based on a painting by Fred Machetanz. The resulting ink drawing was later refined into a graphic featuring the letters “UA” with a lumbering bear crossing over them.[3]
Following a statewide university restructuring in 1975, the institution was renamed UAF, which required a new logo. The letter “F” was added to the UA logo and the bear was redrawn.[3] In 1985, Chancellor Patrick O’Rourke introduced a new logotype featuring the institution’s name, three lines and a very small image of the nanook.[1]
In 1995-96, university graphic designers created the “Aurora Bear” image, which illustrated UAF’s Land, Sea and Space grant status using the UAF mascot along with stylized aurora, mountains and ocean imagery.[3] In 1997, a marketing firm working with UAF on a student recruitment initiative recommended dropping the polar bear image entirely, as focus groups perceived polar bears as unfriendly. This proposal met considerable disagreement, and affection for the mascot grew as a result.[3]
By 1999, the bear from the aurora bear artwork was successfully melded into the UAF logo, which was modified to appear in one color, UAF’s bright blue. This image forms the basis of the current UAF graphic identity.[1] Chancellor Marshall Lind formalized adoption of the logo in 2000.[1]
An alternate version of the UAF logo emphasizing the word “Alaska” rather than “Fairbanks” was created in 2006. In 2011, Chancellor Brian Rogers formalized adoption of the “Alaska” version and retired the “Fairbanks” version.[1]
UAF maintains a separate athletics mark known as the “A-bear,” which is primarily used by the UAF Athletic Department and its entities. The A-bear, along with the “ALASKA NANOOKS” and “ALASKA” wordmarks, are federally registered trademarks reserved for official UAF Athletics usage.[4] The walking bear image may not be used alone.[5]
Meaning and Symbolism
The UAF mascot is the Nanook, derived from the Inupiaq word for polar bear, nanuq.[5] The Nanook bear is the only stylized polar bear that should be used in UAF branding; the university prohibits creating animated, hand-drawn or other versions of a polar bear to keep the logo system and brand consistent.[5]
Typography and Design
The UAF logo is composed of two parts: the symbol and the wordmark. The logo is most often used in blue or black and should only be used in official UAF primary colors or black, with the bear rendered in white.[6] Official UAF colors are Pantone 647 blue and Pantone 116 yellow.[7] The symbol may be used without the wordmark provided the full university name appears elsewhere on the page, but the wordmark may not be used without the symbol.[5]
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