Horizon League Announces Brand Recharge
INDIANAPOLIS (August 14, 2023) – The Horizon League has announced a brand recharge ahead of the 2023-24 academic year. The recharge includes the introduction of a secondary icon logo, a new #OurHorizon social media campaign and updated visual elements and messaging points.
“The League presidents and chancellors launched this brand recharge to bolster pride across our League members and amplify the inspiring stories of our student-athletes,” stated Horizon League Commissioner Julie Roe Lach. “This recharge modernizes our League brand while providing a message of unity and shared focus amid a dynamic collegiate athletics environment.”
The updated messaging emphasizes all aspects of the holistic person as well as the impact that the current experiences of student-athletes, distinctive within the League, have on the rest of their lives. In the coming months, the HL will be starting new messaging campaigns to better highlight and focus on the student-athlete experience within the Horizon League.
The recharged communication strategy emphasizes four key pillars of the Horizon League Experience: Major Cities, Major Experiences, Major Moves and Major Impact.
- Major Cities highlights exposure to entities and experiences unique to major metro cities (professional sports, media, culture, arts, business) in the League’s footprint.
- Major Experiences focuses on NCAA Division I competition and championships and ESPN exposure across the League.
- Major Moves highlights the League’s commitment to innovation and forward-thinking approach to challenges while addressing emerging trends in all aspects of the college sports environment.
- Major Impact emphasizes how our League through our members and student-athletes lead in our metropolitan campus communities and championship host cities.
One key element of the recharge is a new “H” icon with gold tones of the horizon in the arc along with a “one” to symbolize the unity of the League and our members. The current primary Horizon League logo will continue to be used while the icon offers a modern extension of the brand.
The imagery is built around the symbolism of the horizon, including the junction of earth and sky, the seamlessness of the student and athlete, the end of today and start of tomorrow and the possibilities beyond what we see.
The League and its members will also utilize #OurHorizon on social media along with the sunset emoji to represent the themes of the recharge and emphasize the unity between our League and our member institutions.
Additional visual influences include the “golden hour”, a photography term referring to the period of time just after sunrise or just before sunset when the light is infused with gold tones, and blue colors taken from the sky at dawn and dusk.
The League partnered with The Rinebold Company and Section 127 on the initiative.
“The research we conducted with Horizon League presidents, administrators, coaches and student athletes indicated a great deal of pride in the student-athlete experiences at their 11 member schools. But what was missing was a collective and more personal voice that goes beyond the structural and administrative nature of the League,” said JoJo Rinebold, Principal of The Rinebold Company who led the brand strategy. “The opportunity for the Horizon League brand is to elevate the unique aspects of how their member schools impact 3,000+ student athletes far beyond their time in college.”
New visual elements were created to emphasize the updated messaging points and highlight the symbolism of the horizon.
“The Horizon League visual identity consists of several elements related to the horizon, ‘the meeting point of the earth and sky, the student and athlete,’” said Arnel Reynon, Executive Creative Director at Section 127. “The horizon line itself represents a unifying visual as Horizon League members share the same horizon even though they are in different cities across the Midwest. The color palette draws inspiration from the light of the golden hour, or the time of day surrounding dusk and dawn, while the gritty textures in the graphic elements portray city skylines that each member school enjoys. The uniquely designed elements belong to a larger unifying entity, much like the athlete is to a team and a team is to a league.”
ABOUT THE HORIZON LEAGUE
The Horizon League, headquartered in Indianapolis, is an NCAA Division I athletics conference comprised of 11 public and private member institutions. The Horizon League and our member schools develop 3,000+ student athletes for life. Through Division I competition and unique opportunities in major metropolitan cities, their athletic, academic and personal aspirations can be achieved because what they learn today will inspire who they become tomorrow. For more information, visit
HorizonLeague.com.