A New Identity for a College in West Virginia

Branding for Bluefield State College

Bluefield State College was founded as a historically Black college in Bluefield, West Virginia, in 1895.

Since then, the college changed as dramatically as the region did, and by 2016, the school was in great need of a fresh, engaging visual identity. They came to Journey Group in search of this design transformation.

Journey Group embarked on a nine-month discovery process, guiding Bluefield State toward a deeper understanding of their past and a hopeful vision for their future.

Inspired by the historic central building on campus, Journey Group worked with illustrator Simon Frouws to create a new logo that could function as a one-color or three-color image and live happily in print, on screens or on physical materials.

Alongside the new academic logo, Bluefield State also needed new athletics branding and a seal. Journey Group worked with designer Fraser Davidson on the refreshed athletics identity for the college.

Drawing from the in-depth brand stories that Journey Group created, the team designed new visual branding that brought the school a versatile, transformative identity across a variety of uses.

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