Logo | Central Wisconsin Catholic Conference

Meet the Teams of the CWCC

Logo & Identity for High School Athletic Conference

About The CWCC

Until 2000, the Central Wisconsin Catholic Conference was a high school athletic league. It was made up of all parochial high schools in the Catholic Diocese of La Crosse.

the Teams of the CWCC

Aquinas Blugolds (La Crosse, Wis.)
Assumption Royals (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.)
Columbus Dons (Marshfield, Wis.)
McDonnell Macks (Chippewa Falls, Wis.)
Newman Fighting Cardinals (Wausau, Wis.)
Pacelli Cardinals (Stevens Point, Wis.)
Regis Ramblers (Eau Claire, Wis.)

Aquinas Blugolds
(La Crosse, Wis.)

Assumption Royals
(Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.)

Columbus Dons
(Marshfield, Wis.)

McDonnell Macks
(Chippewa Falls, Wis.)

Newman Fighting Cardinals
(Wausau, Wis.)

Pacelli Cardinals
(Stevens Point, Wis.)

Regis Ramblers
(Eau Claire, Wis.)

About This Project

To my knowledge, the CWCC never used an identifying mark.

High school conferences don’t need branding the way that colleges might. Collegiate leagues sometimes have a dedicated cable network. There are tons of brandable applications in that situation, from on-air graphics to on-field and on-uniform tags. Colleges can leverage content and exposure as a recruitment tool.

At the high school level, there’s far less of a need. But conference branding is more important now than ever. As leagues offer growing amounts of content on the web and social media, it only makes sense to have umbrellas that connects all of their member schools.

Why brand all these small schools?

If you’ve ever had an idea but didn’t act on it right away, it can snowball into a much bigger idea. Remember that concept

The Idea

Initially, I wanted to rebrand Columbus Dons Ahtletics. I’m an alum.

The Snowball

One school’s athletics became the idea of focusing on athletics as an independent studio. So this wasn’t just something kind I was doing. It became proof of concept.

In short, it’s half portfolio building and half philanthropy.

I think of myself as a demanding client:

Timeless sports design. Iconic design that’s built to last a generation.
Original work. Custom icons, mascots, type, and scripts. Custom, crafted design means it won’t look like other teams’ visuals.
Any former CWCC school looking wanting to use these identities can do so without charge. But even though it’s free, it can have lasting value.

Behind the Fish monogram

Like any custom icon, there are hundreds of little decisions that lead to the final result. The simple challenge for me was to combine a fish, which is a 2,000-year-old symbol of the Church, with the CWCC abbreviation.

I reasoned the fish could be part of the W and I laid out the letters so they circled the fish concentrically.

Logo Variations

I created a several versions of the logo that:

have greater or less detail
could work at small sizes
use a complimentary shape and are easier to read at smallest sizes

Applications

How does this brand get used on field to unify teams as members of the CWCC?

This is something seen in major collegiate and in the pros, but to think this identity through and have a little fun, I’m presenting these little hits of branding.

Green and Gold

At some point, Midwestern Catholic schools think of themselves as a high school version of Notre Dame. It’s a natural natural aspiration.

Notre Dame’s school colors are navy, gold, and kelly green. Many of schools in the CWCC use navy or gold or both. Only Regis uses green. I went with green and gold as a subtle nod to Notre Dame.