Campus News

Bethel sports new logo for athletic teams

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With the fall sports season well underway this year, there has been a new face around Bethel College.  That face is the one of Bethel’s new logo. Bethel adopted a new logo this year after nine years with the previous logo, according to Bethel Assistant Athletic Director Chris Hess. With larger market schools going to sleeker logos Bethel took a different approach. The question now is how was this logo chosen and how is it being perceived. “We started with a committee of about six or eight people, with representatives from Athletics, MarCom, Admissions and Student Development,” said Hess. “We also held a series of focus groups with more than 60 people representing faculty, staff, alumni, current students, coaches and athletes to get input from our community. The entire process was actually about 2 years in the making.” Hess said 30b570da24a266c412b4767fb2270203no detail about the current logo went unconsidered. “The design of the man behind the helm was the decision that was given the most attention, as we wanted him to represent the qualities we were looking for without him looking too much like a sailor, a pirate, or an extremely irritable follower of Christ,” said Hess. “I think the new logo is great.” said Bethel College junior Brennan Seevers. “People can finally tell what we are; it’s not as vague as before. Some students wondered why the school changed the logo in the first place. According to Hess what the school had just wasn’t cutting it.  There isn’t just one new logo however. There is actually nine. Hess said that the new logos were all a part of a family of marks. Which Hess said will be used to add diversity and create new forms of marketing for the school. “The flexibility, options and capabilities to promote Bethel Athletics have already been a huge blessing in our apparel and uniform orders for the fall,” said Hess. Some students don’t think the new logo is anything special. “I really liked the logo from last year,” said Bethel sophomore Mason Heller. “I feel like the new logo is basic and doesn’t stand out” “While there is always the potential for some resistance to any changes, the majority of response and reaction to the logo change has been resoundingly positive and we are very pleased with the end product,” said Hess. In the family of marks that make up Bethel’s  new logos there is one that seems to stand out the most. This year the Lady Pilots now have a different logo than the rest of the teams on campus. “Simply put, the Lady Pilots did not have a logo,” said Hess. That has now changed and several women’s sports teams will be represented by a Lady Pilots logo this year. Hess seemed encouraged by the reactions to the new logo to this point. You can look for the new logos around campus and make the decision for yourself about your favorite new logo.    
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