The UMBC Retrievers are the athletic teams of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The official athletics logo features a stylized Chesapeake Bay Retriever with an arched “UMBC” over its head, a mark reserved for athletics materials and merchandise and not for academic use.[1]
Design and History
The Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Maryland’s state dog, was adopted as UMBC’s mascot only weeks into the school’s first semester in 1966.[2] The current primary logo was unveiled in May 2010, the fifth primary logo in the department’s 40-plus years of intercollegiate competition.[3]
The mark was designed by Jim Lord, a UMBC graduate and design director in the university’s Office of Creative Services, following a year-long study by that office.[4] Lord also designed three companion logos: a full-bodied dog, and “UMBC Retrievers” and “UMBC” wordmarks.[4] The selection process included focus groups of students, student-athletes, coaches, athletics staff and alumni, with an online poll drawing more than 2,500 votes among three finalists. More than 60 percent of the vote went to the chosen design.[4]
An earlier logo, nicknamed “True Grit,” was unveiled on August 28, 2001, after the annual campus Convocation ceremony.[5] The 2010 redesign introduced a family of logos, which Lord said was a key development: “I wanted to make sure we had a solution for every need.”[4]
Meaning and Symbolism
Lord described the full-color primary logo as stylized, straddling the line between a realistic Chesapeake Bay Retriever and a cartoon counterpart, using the brown tones of the Maryland state dog with a block-style UMBC above it.[3] The university’s style guide notes that the Chesapeake Bay Retriever breed exhibits qualities found in UMBC’s students and alumni: extremely hard-working, sensitive and serious, and intensely loyal and protective.[1]
UMBC’s school colors are black and gold, described by the university as variations of those found in the Maryland state flag.[6] The official palette includes UMBC Black (PMS Black, web #000000) and UMBC Gold (PMS 1235C/116U, web #fdb515), along with a secondary UMBC Retriever Brown (PMS 1255C/U, web #a67a05).[6]
Typography and Design
The official athletics logo uses an arched “UMBC” wordmark above the retriever’s head.[1] The university’s style guide specifies that the logo must not be rendered with variant typefaces, altered in color, inverted, or repositioned, and that the mascot’s gaze was designed to face the competition in a normal home versus away display of logos.[1]
The style guide also establishes minimum sizing requirements for each logo variation, with the primary logo permitted at a minimum height of 1.5 inches, the full-dog logo at 2 inches, and sport and department wordmarks at 1 inch.[1]
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