The NCAA is the largest nonprofit sports association promoting student sports in the United States and Canada. It was founded in 1910. The main tasks of the association are to support sports programs and organize competitions in universities and colleges. It has more than 1200 educational institutions, sports leagues and other organizations related to student sports. Every year, competitions are held in more than 20 types of sports disciplines with the participation of at least 480,000 students.

Meaning and history

1910 – 1937

The first logo captures the overall spirit and mood of the early NCAA. Since the association is designed to support young students in sports development, it was decided to clearly display this in the logo. It was presented in black and white and rounded shape.
The process of awarding two athletes (a man and a woman) in the Olympic style is depicted in the center of the logo. A laurel wreath is held over their heads – a symbol of glory, victory and peace. The name of the association and the date of its foundation are stretched along the entire inner office of the circle.

1938 – 1956

It was decided to finalize the logo and make minor edits. All elements of the logo were made clearer and more contrasting. The athletes’ heads were tilted slightly to the left, and the central image itself was surrounded by a circle consisting of many non-intersecting rings. The outline lettering was balanced so that the founding date was now strictly centered.

1957 – 1970

The logo has been updated. Added a yellow background to modernize its look. And also slightly modified the font for all inscriptions.

1971 – 1979

61 years after the foundation of the association, the logo was completely changed for the first time. The general spirit of the Olympic theme was preserved while simplifying the logo design.
It consisted of only one element – the abbreviation of the association on a black background. White lowercase letters were used. The inscription was applied diagonally from the upper left to the lower right corner. The letters were rounded and superimposed on each other, which was a reference to the shape of the Olympic rings.

1980 – 1999

Since 1980, it was decided to finally move away from the practice of using elements of Olympic symbols. The inscription was moved to the central part of the logo and the font was changed to a custom one, thus increasing brand awareness. Capital letters no longer intersect with each other. Thanks to its new, simpler shape, the logo is much easier to read than before.

2000 – today

Together with the rebranding of the association, its logo was also updated. The black background was changed to blue. In the context of youth sports, a blue background looks preferable. The lettering font has become more voluminous and shifted slightly downward. Small rectangular serifs appeared on the letters. After the rebranding, the logo began to look more interesting and memorable.

Color and font

Until 1980, the emphasis was on the large image in the center of the logo, shifting all the lettering to the background. The font has been adapted for the rounded shape of the logo so that it fits evenly along the entire circumference. However, the inscription was inconvenient to read, it rather served as part of the decor.
Modern logos are presented in a minimalist style, they are easy to recognize and remember. The color scheme was invariably a combination of two different contrasting colors.