The Georgia Southern Eagles are the athletic teams of Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. The university’s athletics program uses an eagle head mark as its primary symbol, a design that has remained largely consistent since it was officially adopted on July 1, 1982.[1]
Design and History
The Georgia Southern eagle head logo was created by J. Roy Parcels, a founding partner of the New York City design firm Dixon & Parcels Associates, which was responsible for brands and packaging for clients including Quaker State, Campbell’s Soup, The Borden Company, and M&M Mars.[1] Parcels donated the design to the university after his son, John Parcels, a former professor of philosophy and religious studies at Georgia Southern, facilitated the introduction.[1]The design process began under then-president Dale Lick, who wanted a symbol that people could identify with Georgia Southern in a positive way.[1] A committee including John Parcels, Linda Smillie, Steve Batson, Sharon Fell, Wendell Hagins, and Hank Schomber was formed to oversee the project.[1] After more than a year of deliberation, Roy Parcels was brought in to create the mark.[1]The original 1982 mark featured a white eagle head in a circle with the top half in blue and the bottom half in gold.[2] The eagle was drawn in a simple silhouette, facing to the right.[1] Roy Parcels explained the design philosophy: “Just simplicity. If you get too fanciful, logos get out of fashion quickly.”[1]The university’s current academic logo retains this circular format, featuring a stylized white eagle head framed by Georgia Southern Blue above and gold below, with “Georgia Southern University” set to the right in the Neutraface 2 typeface.[3]The athletics department introduced a separate primary logo in 2016, which places the eagle head above a “GEORGIA SOUTHERN” wordmark in blue, gold, and gray.[4] That year, the shade of blue used in the athletics marks was darkened.[4] The athletics department also phased out older logos, including a swooping eagle with “Georgia Southern” in script and a large “GS” mark with an eagle head, directing that these older marks should no longer be used.[5]Meaning and Symbolism
The color choices for the 1982 mark were deliberate. The designers settled on a navy blue instead of the school’s former pale blue, based on the marketing principle that darker colors convey quality.[1] They also chose gold as an accent color to replace the school’s former silver accent.[1] The eagle mark was drawn facing to the right, described as “looking into the future, moving forward.”[1]Typography and Design
The university’s official logo uses Neutraface 2 as its typeface for the “Georgia Southern University” wordmark.[3] The university’s official colors are Georgia Southern Blue and White, with a Gold accent; athletics marks may also incorporate a Gray accent color.[6] The athletics department lists its primary colors as Blue (PMS 282) and White, with Gray (PMS 429) and Gold (PMS 872) as secondary colors.[7]Logo Index is an independent educational archive covering logos, visual identities and graphic design history. All trademarks and brand assets remain the property of their respective owners.
