The Nova Southeastern Sharks identity belongs to the athletics program of Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The Sharks compete in NCAA Division II and the Sunshine State Conference. The university explicitly distinguishes its athletics shark logo from its general institutional wordmark, and current brand guidance states that NSU Athletics will continue using its shark logo “unchanged.”[1]
Design and History
NSU used the Knights as its mascot for 23 years before unveiling “Sharks” as the new nickname for the university and its athletic teams in 2005.[2] The change followed a campus-wide selection process in which the student body, faculty and staff collaborated to choose a new nickname, with the overwhelming majority deciding on “The Sharks.”[3] The new Sharks logo and athletic mascot were unveiled in 2005.[4]
NSU’s style manual identifies the Sharks logo as representing the Athletics Department and states that it should never be used in place of the NSU logo.[5] The university’s current brand system maintains this separation, restricting the athletics logo to use by the Athletics Department or for sport-related activities.[1]
Meaning and Symbolism
NSU’s mascot is a shortfin mako shark. The university describes the mako as fast, and states that since the mako embodies the spirit of NSU, the mako visual should be used when making broad statements about the spirit or brand of NSU.[6] The official mascot character, named Razor, was introduced when the university switched to the Sharks identity in 2005.[2]
The shark logo is made up of five colors: Pantone PMS 285 (blue), PMS 287 (blue), PMS 428 (gray), PMS 429 (gray), and black.[5] The university’s documentation does not assign symbolic meanings such as speed or fearlessness to the logo itself; those attributes are associated with the shortfin mako mascot character rather than presented as official logo symbolism.[6]
Typography and Design
The official materials reviewed do not identify a designer or design agency responsible for the Sharks logo. The university’s style manual documents the logo’s construction, approved colors and usage rules, but provides no designer attribution.[5] The exact typeface used in the Sharks wordmark is likewise not identified in official sources, so no font attribution is made here.
What is documented is the controlled nature of the identity. The style manual specifies that the shark logo uses the five-color system described above, and the current brand guidelines prohibit rotating, skewing or distorting logos or wordmarks in any way.[7] The athletics logo is restricted to athletics and sport-related uses rather than serving as the general university identifier.[1]
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