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College Sports Communicators Announces New Visual Identity With New Organizational Logo and Academic All-America® Program Brand Marks
After officially rebranding to its new name College Sports Communicators (from College Sports Information Directors of America, CoSIDA) in September, CSC takes the next step in its new branding identity with the introduction of a new organizational logo and new marks for its Academic All-America® program.
College Sports Communicators (CSC), the association of athletic communications, media relations, sports information, digital and creative professionals throughout all levels of intercollegiate athletics in the United States and Canada, today launched a new logo and brand marks to reflect the organization’s forward momentum and growth.
As part of a rebrand identity that is being implemented in stages and approved by its Executive Board, CSC has introduced a new organizational logo and also new marks for its signature program, the Academic All-America® program.
The goal of the rebranding initiative has been to develop a new name and visual identity that accurately reflects the growing organization of content creators, brand storytellers and contemporary communications leaders.
These logo updates align with CSC’s membership makeup and positions the organization to support and advocate for its members who serve in the communications, digital and creative college sports industry, regardless of position or title.
“The unveiling of our new logo and brand marks is the next step in our new brand identity for our association,” said CSC President
Jessica Poole, Chicago State deputy director of athletics and chief operating officer.
“Just as our new name, College Sports Communicators, embodies an important step to a renewed sense of purpose, inclusivity, growth and enthusiasm for our current and future members, so do our new logos for our organization overall and for our Academic All-America program.”
Following a year-long intensive branding study, the rebranding process began with the adoption of an All-In membership model for the 2022-23 academic year to include all communicators and creatives in intercollegiate athletics.
The organization officially rebranded on Sept. 1 when it introduced its new name, Collegiate Sports Communicators, after being known as College Sports Information Directors of America for 65 years. The organization’s name was approved and changed to College Sports Communicators to better reflect the growth and identity of the 3,800-plus member organization.
CSC was founded in 1957 and is the second-oldest management association in intercollegiate athletics. CSC became an affiliated partner with NACDA (National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics) in December 2008.
“Brands should clearly and distinctly articulate the promise and vision of an organization," said CSC Executive Director
Erik Christianson. "Our new name and logo and other visual marks are important elements that directly communicate the CSC brand, not only who we are but also how our association and its members across North America are positioned to support student-athletes and all levels of college sports every day.”
The name change and new logo and marks are major steps in a larger strategic plan to highlight the association’s evolution and expansion," Christianson said.
CSC worked with branding and design leaders Joe Bosack & Co. on the identity updates.
- What is the new logo? The new logo has the letters C, S, C in three distinct colors (bright blue, traditional blue and orange) and the text “College Sports Communicators” stacked in two lines. To reflect our history, “College Sports” has been carried over from our previous name. The modernized logo, with its six quarter circles, reflects CSC’s brand story of unity and inclusiveness — one organization serving a diverse membership. The six quarter circles represent all parts of the organization coming together to support our mission in college sports and leaning forward into the future.
- “Stronger together” represented. Our members are our foundation. Thus, the foundation of the logo is six quarter-circle shapes; they flip, turn and combine to form the letters CSC. The six quarter circles form CSC, just as there are six divisions that comprise our association — NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA, Canadian institutions, and Two-Year campuses and conferences.
- The logo represents our shared purpose with a diverse approach. The quarter-circle shape represents our members’ similarities and flexibility, demonstrating how our individual members show versatility as communications professionals as they provide value in many ways. Our members share a common purpose, but are diverse in skill sets and responsibilities. All this is reflected in the core quarter-circle shape upon which the logo is built.
- New bright color palette and font. The new visual marks are characterized by a bold, clear font (Proxima Nova). A new color palette for all marks is also part of the new identity system. The bright blue and orange colors signal a fresh outlook for the future. Blue, a traditional color for the organization embedded in past logos, communicates trust, intelligence and loyalty. Orange represents communication and creativity, and exudes warmth, optimism and energy.
- Open space for growth in the “S”. The open space in the “S” in the logo acknowledges and embraces the divisional differences within our membership. It also represents our members’ multi-faceted responsibilities and ever-changing roles in the world of communications, and leaves open the space to indicate growth for both the organization and our members.
- Refreshed Academic All-America program marks. The three marks for the Academic All-America program — an Academic All-America logo, an Academic All-District logo, and the Academic All-America Hall of Fame logo — remain with the same design. Brighter colors have been adopted into the design along with the main secondary CSC color navy. The “selected by” text includes the CSC icon.
“We were purposeful in choosing the design and colors to signify our growth and as a bridge from the past to the future," Poole said. "The Executive Board of Directors along with CSC staff, our strategic branding working group and with our consultants, Joe Bosack & Co., worked diligently and strategically to finalize our new marks to make sure they truly reflected who we are as an organization,” Poole said.
Updates to the College Sports Communicators identity comes after extensive input from across the college athletics community. A brand identity working group, composed of both association members and others in college athletics, guided the rebrand process. Throughout the process, association members and external stakeholders were surveyed, interviewed one-on-one, and numerous webinars and group engagement sessions were conducted.
“All these important changes are indicative of an association on the move,” Poole emphasized. “In addition to our rebrand and new marks, our main focus remains on providing our members with expanded professional development, member benefits and leadership and networking opportunities as we continue to position CSC as a leader in collegiate athletics.”
Throughout the next several months, a final rollout of the full rebrand to College Sports Communicators will take place. Next steps include a full redesign and relaunch of the official website and mobile responsive web platform.
More about CSC's transformational efforts over the past four years can be found at
CollegeSportsCommunicators.com/a-new-vision and
CSC 360 January 2023: Announcing The New CSC Visual Brand.
About College Sports Communicators
The second oldest management association in intercollegiate athletics, College Sports Communicators was founded in 1957 and rebranded in September 2022. The organization, now in its 66th year as an organization, was previously known as College Sports Information Directors of America, or CoSIDA.
Today, College Sports Communicators is a vibrant 3,800 member international association, composed of the athletic communications, media relations, digital and creative professionals throughout all levels of intercollegiate athletics in the United States and Canada. CSC’s signature program is the Academic All-America® program, honoring thousands of outstanding scholar-athletes annually.
College Sports Communicators has two primary missions as it seeks to have its profession, organization and membership take its rightful leadership role within the decision-making levels of the intercollegiate athletics community:
1) Provide communications professionals at all college and university levels with professional development and continuing education as it relates to strategically and effectively managing and influencing the many issues, challenges and opportunities that exist within the fast-paced and ever-changing communications environment.
2) Play a significant leadership and resource role (i.e., develop strategic communicators) within the overall enterprise of college sports, thus helping their campuses, conferences and other management groups and their respective memberships deal with a set of communications-based issues that is the most complex and challenging in history.
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