In addition to the official University Seal, Iowa State has a double-lined wordmark and athletic emblems based on the cardinal bird mascot called Cy.
Founded in 1858, Iowa State University of Science and Technology is the largest university in the state of Iowa. It includes eight colleges offering more than a hundred bachelor’s degree programs, 112 master’s degree programs, and 83 at the Ph.D. level.
The original logo of Iowa Agricultural College, designed in 1858, stayed unchanged for forty years. It was a complicated lettering composition, with the bold geometric “Iowa” written on top of the banner, and the elegant wishbone-style “Agricultural College” arched in the center. The bottom line of the logo was taken by the specification of the institution’s location, with the photo of the college intending the center.
The redesign of 1898 created a more classy and balanced badge for the college. it was an elegant circular crest with a leafy wreath in the center and sleek uppercase lettering in a fancy old-style serif typeface written both across the middle part of the medallion and around the perimeter of its pretty wide frame.
Iowa Agricultural College officially became Iowa State University in 1959, and the new logo of the institution was designed in the same year. It is a simple yet extremely elegant two-leveled lettering in bright red, written against a transparent background without any additional elements. The inscription is executed in a medium-weight traditional typeface with small yet sharp triangular serifs on the ends of the bars.
The seal, which has a circle shape, combines white and pink letters and pictorial elements with the background in the signature shade of red, cardinal. In the center, there’s the lettering “Science with practice” in a serif all-cap typeface. The text is surrounded by the leaves of a laurel wreath. Round the wreath, a combination of five thin rings can be seen.
Eventually, on the outer part of the emblem, you can see the text “Iowa State University” and “Of Science and Technology.” The two parts of the lettering are separated from each other by two five-pointed stars. The glyphs are larger and belong to a different font family than those used for the motto in the center of the emblem.
The seal is typically used only on official documents signed by the University President, although the brand guidelines point out that it can appear on some consumer products “on a case-by-case basis.”
While the University’s athletic teams are called the Cyclones, the athletic logo features a cardinal bird. It’s the mascot, cardinal Cy. Although the teams have been known as the Cyclones since 1895, the cardinal mascot was adopted only in 1954.
In addition to the bird emblem, there’s also an athletic wordmark featuring the arched lettering “Iowa State Cyclones.”
The University’s wordmark sports a classic and highly legible serif type. The serifs are thin and elegant. The wordmark consists of the two lines: “Iowa State University” on the top in large letters and “Of Science and Technology” in smaller letters below. Left alignment or center alignment can be used for the second line.
According to the information provided on the website of the Iowa State University Office of University Marketing, the primary palette includes five colors. Two of them, cardinal (Pantone 186 C) and gold (Pantone 142 C) are the school’s signature colors. The other three colors are greenish shades of grey and black, including Pantone 451 C, Pantone 454 C, and Pantone 449 C.