The Evansville Purple Aces are the athletic teams of the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana. The university’s visual identity is built around a core palette of purple, orange, and white, with the athletics program known as the Purple Aces and its mascot named Ace Purple. The current unified branding system was introduced in April 2019.
Design and History
The “Aces” nickname dates to the mid-1920s. After Evansville College defeated the University of Louisville 59-39 in the 1924-25 season, Louisville’s coach told Evansville coach John Harmon, “You didn’t have four Aces up your sleeve, you had five!” Harmon shared the quote with Evansville Courier sports editor Dan Scism, and the two preferred “Aces” over the existing “Pioneers” nickname. By 1926, “Purple Aces” had become the established nickname. The Evansville College colors were purple and white at the time.[1]
The Ace Purple mascot character was created in the late 1960s by local sports cartoonist Larry Hill. Ace was designed in the image of a turn-of-the-century riverboat gambler, reflecting Evansville’s location on the Ohio River. The original character carried a club and gun and had a sneer, which the university disliked, so the mascot soon disappeared. In 1977, when Evansville moved to Division I, sports information director Greg Knipping contacted Keith Butz, who had recently revamped Purdue’s Boilermaker Pete, to make Ace Purple a more likable character. Former UE basketball player Pieter van Tongeren modernized Ace’s look as a senior art project, with the new design debuting during Homecoming 2011.[1]
In April 2019, the University of Evansville unveiled a refreshed institutional and athletics branding system during an on-campus press conference. The university partnered with Ologie, a marketing and branding firm based in Columbus, Ohio, after a nationwide search that began in August 2018.[2] The rebrand was prompted by a lack of a strong, unified brand between the institution and its athletics department. The research process included more than 100 stakeholder interviews, two student discussion groups, a collaborative staff session, and 697 survey respondents.[2]
Paul Davis, executive creative director at Ologie, said the firm was “inspired by the university’s rich history of previous logos,” leading to an approach “rooted in legacy” that links together every generation of Aces.[2] As part of the refresh, UE athletics shifted to calling itself the “Aces” instead of “Purple Aces” to simplify the branding.[3]
The 2019 system introduced an updated version of the old script “Aces” logo in cursive lettering, along with a new interlocking “UE” emblem and a modernized Ace Purple mascot.[3] The university’s brand guidelines describe the Aces Script as “a modern logo inspired by the original script worn by some of the winningest athletic teams of our past.”[4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The university’s brand guidelines identify the core palette as purple, orange, and white, with the specific Pantone values of 2617 for purple and 144 for orange.[4] The guidelines describe the color palette as “bright and energetic.”[4] The specific shade of purple used in the UE logo is Pantone 2617.[5]
The Ace Purple mascot character represents a riverboat gambler, reflecting Evansville’s location on the banks of the Ohio River.[1]
Typography and Design
The university’s brand guidelines specify that the Aces Script spirit mark is “a modern logo inspired by the original script worn by some of the winningest athletic teams of our past.”[4] The logo system includes approved color variations, minimum-size requirements, and clear-space rules to maintain legibility. For the interlocking UE emblem, versions using the outer bevel should be sized no smaller than 0.5 inches or 48 pixels in width, while emblem marks using only the fill of the letters or just the outer bevel should be no smaller than 0.25 inches or 24 pixels.[6]
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