As a leading research university and academic health system, UAB’s brand needs to reflect the strength and dynamism of our mission. To ensure our brand remains relevant and impactful, we have undertaken extensive research and engaged numerous stakeholders to analyze the perception, meaning, and recognition of our brand. This refresh is focused on preparing UAB for the future and increasing our brand recognition. The update addresses several key challenges, including:

• Improving the legibility of the UAB logo
• Ensuring consistency across brand elements
• Creating a unified family of marks
• Defining the role of our beloved Blaze logo
• Clarifying official school colors
• Enhancing UAB’s brand recognition beyond our city and state

This brand refresh is designed to ensure that UAB’s visual identity continues to stand strong and effectively represent our institution’s excellence and vision for the future. We’ve documented our decision making and process all along the way: link to research section

The brand refresh is a strategic investment in UAB’s future, designed to enhance our visibility and reputation. We have been cost-conscious from the start, with much of the work being led by our in-house marketing and creative teams, along with volunteer committees that represented stakeholders across the enterprise. We went through a competitive bid process and selected two agencies to work with: one to conduct brand research and another to develop our new logos.

While updating logos is much easier in digital and print, we recognize that is not the case in the physical environment, which is why we are taking a phased approach and only updating during regularly scheduled improvements and as new buildings come on line. This approach ensures that we balance the need for a refreshed brand with practical and budget-conscious implementation.

We engaged stakeholder input every step of the way. Collaboration is a shared value across UAB, which is why multiple stakeholder groups, including employees, alumni, students, leadership, and more, were engaged to provide input throughout this journey. For every member of the UAB community who shared their feedback, we thank you for your contribution to our new visual identity system.

Our former logos will be honored as legacy logos, acknowledging their significant role in UAB’s identity history. While our refreshed visual identity will become the primary representation of UAB, legacy logos will hold a special place in our community. We plan to bring these logos out on special occasions to celebrate our history and the evolution of our brand. This approach is similar to other universities where legacy logos and historical seals are preserved for ceremonial purposes and special events, ensuring a nod to the past while embracing a refreshed identity for the future.

While it’s relatively easy to update in digital and print, a complete overhaul will not happen overnight. A phased approach allows us to address changes intentionally, and in a more fiscally responsible manner. As part of our brand research process, we learned from other universities who have rebranded and developed this approach as the best way to introduce new logos.

As of January 2025, the core logos for the university the core logos for the university, medicine and athletics, along with spirit marks, a are available for download and internal use.

UAB’s legacy logos appear across numerous building signs across campus, as well as the state. There is no intention to update logos in the physical environment unless it is part of a regularly scheduled improvement cycle. New logos in high-impact areas will be considered as budget allows, and legacy logos will remain for years to come.

There will be a coordinated effort to have all official university social media accounts update their logos together. This date will be determined and shared through eReporter and outreach through the Office of Marketing and Communications.

These lockups, along with full guidance, are available in the Brand Hub in the Digital Asset Library.

Beginning in January 2025, you may purchase merchandise using the core university logos and your school/department/unit lockup. Learn how to order promotional items and apparel for your unit.

The UAB Bookstore is our preferred retailer because every purchase directly provides support back to the university and UAB Athletics. A purchase at the UAB bookstore is a great way to show your Blazer spirit. You can shop online or at the campus store. Can’t find what you need? Let us know at sm536@bncollege.com.

You can also see a full list of retailers who will begin carrying the new brand beginning this fall.

Our team is working to make some logos available beginning with the Soft Launch. For additional questions, please contact marketing@uab.edu.

While our brand research journey began in 2019, the global COVID 19 pandemic in 2020 halted our progress for a couple years. In fall 2022, we were finally able to resume progress by selecting a creative agency to partner with, and creative work began in spring 2023. The entire process spanned across 3+ years, which is what we originally planned.

Yes, extended color palettes are now available in the Brand Guidelines.

Please continue using the current UAB Heersink School of Medicine logo until UAB Medicine guidelines are made available in spring 2025.

This mark did not perform well in our brand research and will be retired as a legacy logo.

Because the Blaze logo refresh included minor enhancements, there is no need to revise our current Blaze mascot costume.

No. Our beloved Blaze mascot is here to stay! Blaze will continue to be prominently used as a secondary logo for UAB Athletics. Additionally, Blaze will be available to the entire UAB community as a spirit mark, making our mascot even more visible.

Kerning - the spacing between characters or letters - is something we put a lot of thought into when developing our new UAB monogram. Our committee, which included both external and internal graphic design and typography experts, explored alternate versions of kerning, which created other visual oddities and challenges. Through our collective work, we feel confident we made the best decision regarding kerning of the new UAB monogram.

UAB’s brand is managed within UAB’s Office of Marketing and Communications. Additional updates and resources, including brand assets and guidelines will become available for use beginning January 2025. In the meantime, you may contact marketing@uab.edu, and a member of our team will be in touch.