...Dear ol' Nebraska U.
There truly is no place like Nebraska on a Saturday during football season. A L O T of eyes are on the Huskers and our new head coach Scott Frost. I'm excited. Football isn't really my sport, but I'm excited. Entering this new era of Husker football -- I like to think E V E R Y O N E is excitedly anticipating what Scott Frost can bring to the program. It's exciting.
Change is good. Honestly, I don't do the best with change--but I know it's necessary for growth and in general-- it's just good to do sometimes...like changing your socks or your wall color.
Sometimes change is a little harder and a lot more necessary (i.e. to save a company from going under). Rebranding can often times be a death sentence, but each company hopes for the best. Isn't that how the saying goes? --Hope for the best, plan for the worst?
[not necessarily the same thing but...]
After I graduated high school my school consolidated with another school. They did a little rebranding, but to do so was bananas expensive. so they kept the same colors, the same mascot and basically just changed the school name. I've seen 'rebrands' done on schools in my area because the extinction of the small school is real (which is another topic for another day)...those rebrands had to cost more than just a pretty penny...probably a real shiny quarter or two.
Nebraska came out with a new 'N' a few years ago, it isn't as block-bold; it's more modern and sleek. Also, in the recent years, Nebraska came out with a new version of the "N with Huskers" across the front." It is a lot cleaner, and definitely more bold-blocked and is in a serif font (for my design friends). It isn't as classic but it is a "new take" on something old, it still doesn't give the same effect as the classic.
Anyway...this post has nothing to do with Nebraska (necessarily) or my own high school alma mater. It's about my passionate love for stripes, color blocking and cheer uniforms.
Aside from my goal to be the scoreboard calligrapher for the PGA (Story here), one of my all-time dream jobs is to design cheerleading uniforms. (piggy-back dream-- rebranding schools) It's the bold colors. It's the school-color palettes... it's the strong typography and the symmetry and most of all- the stripes. There is nothing more satisfying than the ever classic five-stripe. However, there is something very special about a white piping or a singular white stripe on a uniform that really makes it all pop.
-----
I didn't do it for the uniform, I did it for the to be part of a team, the BA dance routines, the yelling, (and if I'm being honest) the popularity...don't judge me, I was 12 at my first try out..
...but as the years went on, the uniform fittings became one of the highlights, for obvious reasons.
1. It's a new uniform
-and-
2. IT IS a blasty-blast playing dress up with all the different uniforms that were brought in.
...but for us (high school us, not junior high us)--it became a little more of a challenge-- What's the most unique and simple but not obnoxious? What will make us look more collegiate? ...because we H A V E to stand out. We have to look sharp. We have to make the other teams WISH they were part of ours. Spoiler alert: they all did. I don't necessarily give all the credit to the uniforms, we took our roles as 'cheer' leaders very seriously, and we were really good. It was fun.
-but anyway, I'm pretty sure my [self-diagnosed] OCD is the root cause of my love for all the stripes and symmetry. I am definitely more than okay with admitting this, too.
During my undergrad one of my projects was to relocate a sports team and redesign the logo and team colors (you can see the portfolio page here). It was one of my favorite projects. It was fun and it fueled a fire in my heart for something that I already loved--(art) logo creation for (duh) a sports team (double piggy back dream...possibly bigger than the other piggy). Maybe one day it will all come together. Until then...
G O B I G R E D! #frostalert #Huskers
Photo: senior year featuring the five stripe AND the single white stripe.