California State University, Chico, known as Chico State, fields its intercollegiate teams as the Chico State Wildcats. The university’s athletics identity is built around a wildcat logomark that appears in several approved lockups and wordmarks, including a primary lockup pairing the mark with the full “Chico State Wildcats” wording and a script “Wildcats” wordmark used for spirit merchandise.[1]
Design and History
Chico State adopted the wildcat as its athletic mascot in 1924, when Maxon Mellinger, a fan of the Northwestern Wildcats, submitted the winning entry in a naming contest. Mellinger thought the wildcat represented the “sassy, spitfire vigor and vitality” Chico students projected at the time.[2]
In August 2012, the athletics department unveiled a new logo system created in partnership with Jim Ward Design, with input from University Creative Director Alan Rellaford. The primary mark was a wildcat head described as “simple but striking,” capturing “a spirit of strength and determination.” The library included 14 distinct designs, including seven secondary marks and five wordmarks, characterized by the university’s traditional cardinal and white color scheme with gray and black accents. The new logos replaced a wildcat mark introduced in the 1990s.[3] In 2014, Jim Ward Design created a companion full-body wildcat logo to augment the head mark on merchandise.[4]
In August 2021, President Gayle Hutchinson revealed a comprehensive visual and narrative identity refresh, the first in the university’s 134-year history. The project was led by Pentagram Austin, working with the office of the president and the university’s marketing and communications team, along with Simpson Scarborough.[2][5] The new visuals included an updated athletics logo and “Big C” spirit mark, replacing all existing logos previously in place.[6]
For the athletic identity, the Pentagram team created a wildcat logo described as “decidedly sportier than the noble institutional identity but still feels like part of the Chico State family.” The previous athletic wildcat was characterized as “cartoony with clunky three-dimensional typography” and “firmly rooted in an outdated genre of athletic logos.” The new mark is available in a one-color version in Chico Red and a two-color version with Cornerstone Gray highlights.[2]
Meaning and Symbolism
The university’s style guide describes the athletics wildcat as “built for speed and always prepared to pounce on the competition.”[7] The official description adds: “Look a little closer and you’ll notice a ‘C’ in the snarl, signifying Chico.”[5]
The wildcat mascot is rooted in the local environment. Unlike many schools that use the wildcat mascot without local connection, Chico State is located in a northern, inland region of California native to bobcats. The Lynx rufus californicus thrives in the forests, canyons, and rocky hills surrounding Chico, and the species has been present since the indigenous Mechoopda and Maidu tribes inhabited the region.[2]
Typography and Design
The Pentagram team selected a sporty, all-caps typography for the athletic program, chosen specifically for its capital letter “C” featuring a single slab-serif at the top of the letter’s curve. The typeface is Lubalin Graph, originally designed by Edward Benguiat and Herb Lubalin for ITC.[2]
During research, the design team discovered a version of the letterform used on the university’s yearbooks and other collateral in the 1940s and 1950s. This prompted them to introduce a Chico Red Lubalin Graph initial capital “C” (for Chico) with a Cornerstone Gray outline, plus two custom script wordmarks spelling out “Wildcats” and a shorthand “‘Cats” version, as secondary identity tools and spirit marks.[2]
The 2021 refresh also introduced an updated color palette with a brighter, more confident shade of maroon called “Chico Red” and a complementary gray called “Cornerstone Gray.”[2] The official specifications are Chico Red (PMS 201 C, Hex #9D2235) and Cornerstone Gray (PMS Cool Gray 9 C, Hex #75787B), with black and white completing the primary palette.[8]
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