rmunite brand launch
PRESS RELEASE // behance portfolio

(Each image below is clickable to see it full sized.)

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and with new administration in place at Robert Morris University, the athletic department staff looked at partnering with a creative firm to help establish the athletic department’s brand. I had assumed the lead graphic designer role following staff cuts prior to the 2019-20 school year, and with the opening of the UPMC Events Center, something cohesive, clean, and undoubtedly RMU’s was crucial to helping the department take the necessary next steps in its pursuit of growth.

The search led the department to Old Hat Creative, who conducted a study to see how RMU’s consumer base perceived it and how the relationship between teams and community could be better fostered. In September 2020, the “UNITE” rebranding campaign was launched, designed to engage students, fans, and donors, as well as the community and regional surroundings. It brought a shuffling of logos, with the RMU initials mark serving as the new primary and UNITE and star logos added to the library as secondaries, and introduced a new font package and brand elements.

Examples of social media images for the RMU team pages with "unconventional" student-athlete pairings.

From a design standpoint, the launch featured cut-out of student-athletes from each of RMU’s varsity programs coming together to demonstrate a united community, and then those student-athletes were paired off “unconventionally” (ex. men’s basketball and rowing, football and women’s volleyball) for collaborative social media posts between programs. The UNITE philosophy took on further meaning while navigating the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in turn led to increased traffic and interactions on the RMU social media pages.

Examples of the 2021-22 look after the first year of the RMUnite campaign, featuring sport-specific colors and archived background images.

Though the UNITE campaign was briefly discontinued after the 2020-21 school year following the university’s decision to cut men’s and women’s ice hockey (the programs were reinstated in December 2021), the look and feel of the department’s new brand remained. I created the 2021-22 look with the same elements – adding associated colors by sport and images of former student-athletes, coaches, and championships to celebrate the university’s centennial anniversary – and continued to design the department’s yearly look for another two years after I left for the WPIAL.