Brigham Young University, founded in 1875 in Provo, Utah, USA, can be safely categorized as a prestigious private, non-profit institution of higher education. In fact, BYU is a permanent member among the top 5% of the world’s best educational institutions, according to international rankings. The original mission of BYU was to make the world a better place, and Brigham Young University values its historical and cultural heritage. And these two indicators – progressive approach and loyalty to the roots – are perfectly combined in the official logo of the university.
Brigham Young University has about 198 majors at the undergraduate level, 113 graduate majors, 96 master’s majors, and 30 doctoral majors. There are branches of the university in different states – Idaho, Texas, Arizona, Utah and California. Today BYU has more than 30 thousand undergraduate students and 3053 master’s, postgraduate, and other graduate students. As of 2024, Brigham Young University is ranked 1001 in the QS World University Rankings.
The brand identity of Brigham Young University (BYU) includes a variety of symbols, from the BYU monogram to the sailor cougar. In mid-2019, the university launched a major brand research project involving a variety of activities, from interviews and focus groups to a perceptions study. The refined visual identity is supposed to represent the main values of the educational institution, emphasizing its ability to evolve and confidently look into the future.
The main BYU logo is the BYU monogram in navy blue. It’s given in a perfectly readable type with delicate serifs.
– Stretch Y
The emblem features a large letter “Y” inside a navy ellipse. It’s used only as the athletics logo and is typically paired with the block BYU. The logo was inspired by the “Y” on the mountain.
– block BYU
The initials of the university name are given in a collegiate typeface. The “Y” is higher than the “B” and “U.” The insignia can be used as an athletic logo or for events in student life.
– block Y
Features the same type as the Block BYU emblem.
– Sailor Cougar
Features a cougar’s head in a sailor’s hat. Typically associated with athletic events as the symbol of the intercollegiate athletic teams BYU Cougars.
– BYU Cougars Mark
Combines the Block BYU emblem with the word “Cougars” in the same type.
– Medallion
A roundel featuring the full name of the university and the year when it was founded.
– Presidential Seal
BYU’s presidential seal was created for limited situations (for instance, for diplomas).
– Ringside wordmark
This version of the Brigham Young University logo features the words “Brigham Young University” in a sans serif type. The text is given in two lines.
The school’s brand guidelines point out there’re three typefaces recommended for use in the identity marks: Ringside, Vitesse, and Requiem. The logos themselves, however, feature different fonts.
In the case of the primary logo, for instance, we see a clear font with elegant thin serifs. The block BYU sports a slab serif font, while the font of the Ringside wordmark is a minimalistic sans.
The main color of the BYU logo is navy (Pantone: 648, HEX #002E5D), which is featured on the white background (HEX #FFFFFF).
While the palette also includes royal blue (Pantone: 2935, HEX #0062B8), it’s used in different circumstances than navy. The royal is used in the wordmarks of campus entities to create the distinction between the name of the entity (which is given in royal) from the primary logo of BYU (which is given in navy). Royal can’t be included in the primary logo.