Ohio State Logo
Ohio State University is a very old institution, but that’s not the story about them. It’s about the infamous blocky O logo they’ve been using since the 50s. It’s mostly associated with their sports association – the Ohio State Buckeyes. A lot of teams for various sports are playing there.
Meaning and History
The University started back in 1870, and only 11 years later the first baseball matches were organized within the varsity. Very soon a lot of other sports have grown popular there, and since 1958 the athletic part of the university got itself a new emblem – the ‘Athletic O’ symbol they’ve been using ever since.
1958 – 1986
The very first independent athletic logo Ohio State Uni had was this. It’s the usual blocky ‘O’ written in the college-type font. It’s not as much an ‘O’ as an uneven octagon with vertical orientation.
They’ve naturally painted it pinkish-red – after the colors of the University itself, and there’s also a rather thick black outline around this logo. At this point, they haven’t had anything else to the logo yet.
1987 – 2012
In 1987, they’ve decided to spice up the design a bit by adding the writing that spelled ‘Ohio State’. They curved the writing downwards a bit, for some reason, and the font itself is reminiscent of the college fonts, once more.
The writing itself was white with a slightly black outline. It obstructed the eligibility a bit, which is why they changed it in the following iteration. The coloring of the main emblem also shifted slightly. The black outline became pale grey, and it barely changed since.
2013 – today
The 2013 design saw a slight change in coloring. They basically reversed the coloring of the central writing – instead of the white letters with black outline there are now black letters with just some white space around them, a much more readable alternative. Apart from that, nothing was added.
Emblem and Symbol
Although mostly used to identify the sports teams from Ohio Uni, this ‘blocky O’ is also used to signify the University itself now. They basically took this ‘O’ element and wrote ‘Ohio State University’ immediately to the right of it. That being said, they are also still using the seals for diplomas and official documents.
