One look – and you’ll feel the heat!
The new Athletics logo for The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) strikes ground today. Bold blue, white and black letters proclaim “UAH” as the home of the Chargers. The proud head of a fierce Charger Blue stallion points forward, ready to run.
“It’s new. It’s original. It’s ours,” said UAH Vice President for Strategic Communications Kristina Hendrix, who led the project to supercharge the logo and the entire Athletics brand identity.
“This is a new look for a new era. We’ve had so many successes over the past few years, and we want to build on those successes.”
The new brand package contains three major elements:
- Updated primary and secondary Athletics logos and spirit and specialty marks;
- Expanded color palette for the entire university, both the institution and Athletics;
- Custom typography for the entire university.
New brand guidelines are available on the UAH website.
“We’ll begin rolling out new digital assets in the coming weeks and months,” Hendrix said, “so you’ll start seeing our new look all around Huntsville and out of town. Expect more announcements about new merchandise later this year. We anticipate the entire implementation across our physical properties will take a few years.”
Today’s announcement invites campus, community and beyond to embrace this new Charger energy.
“We want people to be as excited about this new logo as we are,” Hendrix said. “This project has been two years in the making, and it deserves to have a true and fun reveal. Our students are preparing to come back to campus, so this gives them something extra to look forward to.”
Students – and anyone else who loves the UAH Chargers – can find the new logo on merchandise starting today at uahchargers.com.
“We hope that people will see our new logo and want to be a part of UAH,” Hendrix said. “We want you to come to a ball game. We want you to come to our events on campus. Yes, our athletic teams are wearing this logo, but it’s also about awareness for the university.”
UAH Athletics is riding high and ready to jump into that new era after an outstanding 2024-25 year. Here are some highlights:
- Basketball – Men’s team set a new school record for most consecutive wins on the way to a Gulf South Conference (GSC) championship. Women’s team took second in their GSC championship series.
- Track and field, indoor – Men’s team took the program’s first GSC indoor championship. Women’s team earned second in their division.
- Track and field, outdoor – Men’s team captured fifth GSC outdoor championship. Women’s team placed second in their division.
- Volleyball – UAH women fought to second place in GSC championship.
“Our teams are part of a winning culture,” Hendrix said. “We’ve seen the pride that our student-athletes have when they perform in competition. During the design process, we asked ourselves: Will they be proud of this logo on their uniform when they’re hoisting the trophy in the air after they win a conference championship?”
UAH Director of Athletics Dr. Cade Smith expects a strong “Yes!”
“I was very pleased when I saw this logo,” he said. “It’s still the Chargers, but it’s fresh. I’m excited about the different ways we might be able to use it. It’s good for brand recognition; it’s good for exposure. Just think about the recruiting and sponsorship opportunities! It’s going to benefit our department and, hopefully, the school.”
We are family!
The style of the new logo also forges a stronger connection to The University of Alabama (UA) System, of which UAH is a part. This Charger Blue could race around the same universe as Big Al from UA and Blaze the Dragon from The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
The UA System tagline – Individually Distinct. Altogether Stronger. – was a key point Hendrix emphasized during the project.
“I wanted to make sure that the stallion spirit mark looks like it belongs in the UA System brand identity family,” she said, “everything from the shading to the fierceness, to how it’s positioned on the page.”
When Smith asked Hendrix for a new logo in 2023, she knew a lot would be riding on its back. The beloved old Charger had put in some 20 years of faithful service, but UAH student-athletes needed dynamic new spirit marks to reflect their ever greater achievements.
The lengthy process of developing and implementing new comprehensive brand identity standards occurs rarely at any institution. Hendrix saw this request as an excellent opportunity for the Office of Marketing and Communications (OMC) to showcase its strengths and make a lasting impact on UAH.
“We know what the university is trying to accomplish. We want to grow enrollment. We want to be the university that Huntsville deserves. Everything that we’re doing in OMC focuses on that.”
Hendrix began with multiple focus groups – students, faculty, staff, administration, Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, campus communicators – and a few questions: What do people know about us? How do they feel about us? What emotions do they gather from hearing “UAH”?
The overwhelming response – “We are UAH!” – emphasized the university’s independent identity, stellar reputation and city location.
“We want people to know that UAH is our brand and our name,” Hendrix said. “We are the only university in Huntsville that has Huntsville in its name. Huntsville is a hot name right now, and we want to lean into that. We want people to know that we are the Chargers, we are UAH and we are located in Huntsville.”
New blue energy
With marching orders understood, the OMC team worked through a request for proposals and chose Henderson Shapiro Peck (HSP) Marketing of Atlanta. UAH does its research thoroughly; so did HSP. This impressed Hendrix.
“They researched every university and college, from the junior college level all the way to Division I, and showed us what every horse, mule, donkey, any kind of equine mascot, looked like.”
OMC and HSP considered differences and similarities to the current logo as well as a fierce or friendly attitude.
Blue was another important consideration. UAH the institution had one shade. UAH Athletics had another.
“We needed one good blue to show unity across the university,” Hendrix said of the primary color choice.
Selecting the best typography involved examining countless hours of game films and photos from schools across the country for inspiration.
When the logos, colors and letters all came together and Hendrix presented options to Smith and UAH President Dr. Charles Karr, she knew right away that her team had succeeded.
“The first sentence they said was, ‘You guys did exactly what we asked you to do.’”
Hendrix is grateful for the ongoing support Karr and Smith provided throughout the project, as well as encouragement and appreciation from the UA System Board of Trustees.
“We aimed for something iconic,” she said. “We wanted current students, employees, alumni, potential students to say, ‘I want that shirt. I go to school there, and I’m proud of my institution. I want to give that item as a gift.’ We looked at everything with that intention.”
While there are abundant academic reasons for a student to choose UAH, emotions – and a white-hot T-shirt – can strike a spark.
“So many potential students look at universities based on the emotion they feel when they visit campus,” Hendrix said. “There’s research that says the stronger the brand is, the better looking it is, the more it will encourage students to want to buy the merchandise. And then the students are interested in learning more about that institution.
“This all goes back to that winning culture. You see these teams playing their hearts out. You also look at the landscape of Division I, Division II programs around the country, and you see how everybody is trying their hardest to make sure that their brand is recognizable and lasting. We knew we needed to do that. Based on the responses, we did.”
Get ready for a new kind of blue. This new era for UAH Athletics is faster, stronger, and more fired up than ever.