Bucknell Bison is the name of an athletic program from Bucknell University, a private educational institution, which was established in 1846 and is based in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The program of the liberal arts college is composed of 25 men’s and women’s sports teams, which all play in the first division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Meaning and history
Apart from playing in Division I of NCAA, the Bucknell Bison teams are members of the Patriot League, an intercollegiate athletic organization, which was established in 1986, and consists of 10 full members and 4 associates. The league fields 24 sports disciplines, and the Bucknell Bison teams take part in all of them, plus its men’s football club is a member of the first division of the FCS — a football subsidiary of the NCAA.
What is Bucknell Bison?
Bucknell Bison is the collegiate athletic program of Bucknell University, which consists of 25 men’s and women’s teams, competing in the first division of NCAA in various sports disciplines including Water Polo, Volleyball, Baseball, Field Hockey, Wrestling, Lacrosse, and many others.
As for the visual identity, Bucknell Bison athletic program has its logo based on the image of a Bison, executed in a blue and orange color palette, since the beginning of the 1990s. Although the first version of the badge was more abstract, minimalist, and dynamic, the redesign of 2002, made it more traditional and detailed, completely changing the style and the mood of the logo.
1990 — 2001
The Bucknell Bison Logo, designed in 1990, was composed of a solid graphical element in a very progressive and dynamic style, enclosed into a thick rounded frame, with no additional lettering. The image features a silhouette of a Bison, running to the right, and executed in solid blue color, with the thick orange horizontal stripe coming out of its body to the left. The stripe was flared to its left end and had some white space between itself and the blue body of the program’s mascot.
2002 — Today
The redesign of 2002 lightened up the color palette of the Bucknell Bison logo, softening the shades of blue and orange and adding more white to the composition. The new badge features a more detailed and realistic image of the animal, which now looks very powerful, and evokes a sense of willingness to fight and win, not giving up. The Bison is set in solid orange and outlined in blue with thin and delicate white details on its horns, eyes, and hooves. The tail of the animal is all blue.
Unlike the previous version of the logo, the new Bucknell Bison badge has a wordmark on it. It is set in two levels and placed slightly diagonally under the image of the Bison. The upper line is written in white capitals of a custom and elegant typeface with small triangular serifs and thin orange lines over the letters, while the bottom line features a smaller size, and uses an extended font with the letters colored orange. The lettering is set on a solid blue background.