The name of the Duke University athletic programs was inspired by the history of the Chasseurs Alpins, a group of French soldiers who fought in World War I. The name “Blue Devils” received much support during the name contest held by the student newspaper in 1921. It was officially adopted two years later in spite of the opposition on the Methodist campus.
Though the name of the team was made up in the early 1920s, the first logo with the Devil appeared only in 1936, and the image of a creature was present on all the logo version of the teams until 1978. As for the color palette of the Duke Blue Devils, it follows the name and during the history featured only two shades — blue and white, though there was one version, executed in monochrome.
The Devil portrait comprised the main part of the team’s logo, created in 1936. He was turned in ¾ and featured an evil smile, thinly painted mustaches, and, of course, horns. The “Duke” lettering in white capitals of a bold sans-serif typeface was set on a blue background, in the bottom right part of the emblem.
In 1948 the Devil was redrawn and now he was standing on bold white lettering outlined in blue. The creature had a trident in his hands and a white letter “D” on his jersey. It was a funny cartoonish logo, which looked friendlier than the previous one, though more amateurish.
The redesign of 1995 switched the color palette to monochrome and made the Devil stand straight. The lettering in a bold outlined typeface was slightly enlarged and the symbols were placed closer to each other, creating a more confident and solid feeling.
In 1966 a completely new emblem was introduced. A modern and sleek portrait of a Devil was executed in smooth stylish lines. The main color of the image was blue, and all the delicate accents — white, and the fancy emblem looked remarkable in this color palette. The sharp earth and pointed horns of the creature were balanced by rounded contours of its head. And his evil smile evokes a sense of strength and danger, representing the character of the team.
The redesign of 1971 drew the Devil in full height, adding more elements to his outline and creating a flame-like outline around his figure. The blue and white color palette remained untouched and created a mixed feeling of cold and heat with the new elements of the team’s visual identity. This was the last official logo with the image of the Devil, which stayed with the team until 1978.
The team decides to completely change its approach to the visual identity design at the end of the 1970s, and removed the image of the Devil from its logo, replacing it with a custom stylized letter “D” in blue. The inner part of the letter featured a white narrowed hexagon with a pointed top and bottom. It looks like a gem and evokes a sense of elegance and chic. For each sport, the logo is drawn in a separate color palette, but it doesn’t affect its recognizability and style.
The university is proud of its men’s basketball team, which is considered the fourth-winning college basketball program of all time. One of its main achievements has been that it has won the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship five times. The women’s basketball team, which became a national powerhouse during the 1990s and 2000s, is also quite competitive.
As for the football team, its most successful period has probably taken place in the late 1980s when they had three consecutive winning seasons. 1994 was also a very successful year when the team was ranked as #13 in the US for a short time.
The women’s soccer team cannot boast a very long history – it started only in 1988. Nevertheless, they have already won ACC regular-season championship three times. They have competed in the NCAA Women’s soccer tournament over 20 times and have competed for the College Cup three times. The men’s soccer team, which is by far older (founded in 1935), has won its only NCAA tournament in 1986.
The team fielded in 1903 has belonged to the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1954. It plays its home games at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. As of 2019, the team is coached by Chris Pollard, who has occupied this position since 2013. The Blue Devils have appeared in three College World Series in six NCAA Tournaments.
BLUE (DUKE ATHLETICS)
PANTONE: PMS 287 C
HEX COLOR: #003087;
RGB: (0, 48, 135)
CMYK: (100, 75, 2, 18)
WHITE
HEX COLOR: #FFFFFF;
RGB: (255, 255, 255)
CMYK: (0, 0, 0, 0)