Iowa State Cyclones is the name used by 6 men’s and 10 women’s athletic teams, which compete in the first division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, as members of the Big 12 Conference, in such sports disciplines as Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Wrestling and several other.
Iowa State University was founded in 1858 as a college of agriculture. Over time, the educational institution expanded into a multidisciplinary institution, but the rich tradition in the study of agriculture remains today.
The university is in the top 400 best universities in the world, according to the international rating QS. ISU is one of the most prestigious universities in the USA, where thousands of students dream of studying. The university is among the best in engineering and technology, life sciences, natural sciences, social sciences, management, arts, and humanities, which is confirmed by the QS ranking. According to the independent international rating THE, it is one of the best universities in the world according to 13 indicators.
Students love their campus in Ames. It is located 30 minutes north of Des Moines, Iowa’s capital city, and covers more than 1,900 acres. Students develop leadership skills by participating in community initiatives; interning with companies and organizations; and joining academic interest societies. The university has a rich and exciting student life with 900 organizations, parades, celebrations, festivals, etc. The university’s football team, the Cyclones, is universally loved and often thrills its fans. However, in addition to the football team, the Cyclones also have men’s and women’s teams in other sports that compete quite successfully within the NCAA Division I ranks.
The very first logo for the Iowa State Cyclones was created at the end of the 19th century, in 1894, and featured a bright vivid yellow and white color palette. That was a simple yet elegant IAC monogram with the smooth capital letters overlapping each other. The lines of the letters were softened and elongated, creating a very smooth and friendly mood for the whole badge.
In the same year, another logo version was introduced. This time it was an angular and strong inscription in the same yellow and white color palette, but with a completely different mood. The capital sans-serif letters of the inscription were set in horizontal space, slightly jumping above the line and separated by two solid yellow dots. The negative space of the letter “A” was also drawn as a dot, but in white, and this is what made the Iowa State Cyclones badge unique and recognizable.
The logo design from 1896 was much stronger and brutal than the previous badges. The dots were removed and the “ISC” abbreviation was set in a straight horizontal line, with no shifts or inclinations. The sharp square Sans-serif letters were massive but perfectly balanced in terms of size and spacing. The only thing that wasn’t changed here, the yellow and white color palette, started looking completely different, being now more reflective of the energy and internal flame, than friendliness.
A surprisingly simple and laconic emblem replaced the strong masculine ISC badge in 1900. A medium-weight Sans-serif uppercase letter “A” in intense yellow color was the only element of the new badge. And it stayed with the club for almost nine years, which is not easy to explain.
The “A” remained but was redrawn in a more modern Sans-serif typeface, and got placed on a solid burgundy background of the new circular medallion in a yellow framing of the same thickness as the bars of the letter. The new badge was much brighter and stronger than the previous minimalist version of the logo, though was still lacking character and uniqueness.
The yellow and white color palette came back to the Iowa State Cyclones’ visual identity already in 1910. This time the logo featured an arched uppercase “AMES” lettering in a square serif typeface, very typical for college athletic teams of that time. It looked pretty traditional and ordinary, with the bright yellow color as the only eye-catching element, which was making the badge more or less recognizable. Although the inscription was well-balanced and looked professional and solid.
In 1930 the design concept of the Iowa State Cyclones visual identity was switched to a more elegant one. The yellow “ISC” monogram was now executed in two fonts — with the “I” in gothic serif, with sharp elements in the middle line of the vertical bar, and “S” and “C” in plain medium-weight sans-serif with regular shapes and contours. All three letters were overlapping each other. The badge stayed in use for a decade and was the last yellow and white logo in the history of the athletic club.
The 1942 logo featured a yellow megaphone housing the letters “ISC” in dark red.
While the following emblem (1948) preserved the megaphone, it grew smaller and was moved behind the large “I.”
In 1957, the Cyclones adopted a new logo where the lettering “ISC” was placed in a rectangle with rounded corners.
The 1965 emblem featured a large red cardinal bird with a flag in its beak.
The cardinal on the 1978 logo lost the flag and turned in the opposite direction (right).
In 1984, a logo featuring a red cyclone wave was introduced. Above the wave, the lettering “Iowa State” in a handwritten font could be seen.
After another experiment with a cardinal and a cyclone wave in 1995, the Iowa State Cyclones logo became a typographic one. Here, there was a large “I” in red with the yellow lettering “State” on the forefront.
The logo, designed for the Iowa State Cyclones in 2007, looked strong and modern. The voluminous geometric “I” in two shades of burgundy and a thick yellow outline, had its contours straight and strong and was overlapped by a massive arched “State” wordmark in all capitals of the same serif font, but with the yellow letters in a burgundy outline featuring a smaller size and thinner lines.
The redesign of 2008 cleaned and refined all contours of the badge, enlarging both elements and making them more visible. Now the shades on the “I” and the “State” were distinct and made the badge look three-dimensional. Also, the straight lines on the letters reflected the strength and determination of the players, becoming a great representation of the team’s spirit and character.
According to the official style guide, cardinal and gold, the university’s two official colors, can be reproduced according to the following values:
In addition to the two-color version, the Iowa State Cyclones logo can also be given in three or four colors. The style guide recommends using the following values:
Both the women’s and men’s basketball teams play in the Big 12 Conference of NCAA Division I athletics. Their home arena is Hilton Coliseum. The men’s team is coached by Steve Prohm, while the head coach of the women’s team is Bill Fennelly.
Before the 2017-18 season, the men’s team had a 1339–1293 all-time record and competed in the NCAA Tournament 19 times. Attendance at Iowa State University women’s games have ranked in the top ten for almost twenty consecutive years.
The team fielded in 1892 uses Jack Trice Stadium as its home arena. The head coach is Matt Campbell. Today, the university’s football team plays in the Big 12 Conference and is a Division I FBS member of the NCAA.
The women’s team is coached by Tony Minatta. The Cyclones all-time record is 159-200-30. While the team does not have a conference title, it has made it to the conference championship nine times. Its home arena is the Cyclone Sports Complex.
CARDINAL
HEX COLOR: #C8102E;
RGB: (200, 16, 46)
CMYK: (2,100,85,6)
PANTONE: 186 C
GOLD
HEX COLOR: #F1BE48;
RGB: (241, 190, 72)
CMYK: (0,24,78,0)
PANTONE: 142 C