Northwest Conference Reveals Updated Brand Identity

The Northwest Conference revealed an updated brand identity this week that pulls inspiration from the natural characteristics of the Pacific Northwest.

A New Northwest Brand Announcement

Our new brand identity launches today, built on the central theme of adventure in the Northwest.

Full Story: https://t.co/qwkAUVeqeo pic.twitter.com/83tQyJD2zi
— Northwest Conference (@NorthwestConf) July 27, 2021

“The purpose of this initiative was to take everything we already knew about ourselves as the Northwest Conference and the Pacific Northwest region – an exceptional and unparalleled experience to any other part of the country – and integrate that essence into compelling brand messaging that could be leveraged to a national audience,” Northwest Conference commissioner Kimberly Wenger said in a statement.

The conference partnered with New Jersey-based Skye Design Studios to develop the new identity, which centers around an “adventure badge” that prominently displays evergreen trees, mountains and water and is supposed to represent the conference’s core values.

It is designed to depict the Columbia River Gorge, which links Oregon and Washington, where every team in the conference is located. The three points, meanwhile, acknowledge the NCAA Division III level at which the conference competes.

“This project was inspiring,” Skye Dillon, founder of Skye Design Studios, told SportsLogos.net. “The Northwest is a place where anything seems possible, and in a lot of ways that sentiment drove the creative process. It was especially gratifying to partner with such a dedicated and inventive brand committee that mutually embraced this approach.”

The updated brand identity comes with custom typography, as well as sport-specific logos that match the shape and include the same green, anthracite and gold color scheme as the conference’s adventure badge.

“The research confirmed our instinct – that the Northwest is so much more than a conference,” Dillon said. “It’s a region, a lifestyle, and an imaginative, courageous mindset. The identity needed to align with those qualities through the lens of sport, and the final result is emblematic of that strategy.”