UL Battle for a Name

[Ragin9221]

I guess we will agree to disagree, I think the FDL (that one in particular) does represent us pretty well. That is not one you see anywhere, just for us and we have prominently displayed it on our website, uniforms and logos for a few years now.

Not saying it doesnt represent us, but tell me how does that enforce the Louisiana identity when it applies to the school if you going to have to use University of Louisiana at Lafayette with it just to identify who we are ?

does the FDL reinforce that how about Ragin Cajuns does it that reinforce that?

Not that we stop using the FDL altogether i am not saying that whatsoever

[RaginDave]

Not saying it doesnt represent us, but tell me how does that enforce the Louisiana identity when it applies to the school if you going to have to use University of Louisiana at Lafayette with it just to identify who we are ?

does the FDL reinforce that how about Ragin Cajuns does it that reinforce that?

Not that we stop using the FDL altogether i am not saying that whatsoever

It directly does not by itself, but coupled with Louisiana on the uniforms or on the scoreboard or trackers it does. Take for example the uniforms we wore mostly in the SBC and Regional, it was Louisiana proudly on the chest. The scoreboards all said UL or Louisiana. That is how we win, there are tons of schools that don't use a letter or letters as their logo, but people still recognize them as that school. Clemson, ND (although you could make an argument for the ND, over the lepricon), Arkansas, Mizzou, Michigan State, Iowa, Penn State, Kansas State, Kansas (somewhat, the Jayhawk does have a KU on his shirt), Buffalo, NIU, Ball State, Arizona State, Florida State, USA, UCONN, ECU, UTSA and many more come to mind.

[31Ragin97]

The fsu seminole used to have FSU on the earrings, maybe still does

[RaginDave]

The fsu seminole used to have FSU on the earrings, maybe still does

I think it still does, but that is a stretch, most people don't notice that, just recognize the chief as the FSU logo, but good catch on the earrings.

[Ragin9221]

It directly does not by itself, but coupled with Louisiana on the uniforms or on the scoreboard or trackers it does. Take for example the uniforms we wore mostly in the SBC and Regional, it was Louisiana proudly on the chest. The scoreboards all said UL or Louisiana. That is how we win, there are tons of schools that don't use a letter or letters as there logo, but people still recognize them as that school. Clemson, ND (although you could make an argument for the ND, over the lepricon), Arkansas, Mizzou, Michigan State, Iowa, Penn State, Kansas State, Kansas (somewhat, the Jayhawk does have a KU on his shirt), Buffalo, NIU, Ball State, Arizona State, Florida State, USA, UCONN, ECU, UTSA and many more.

I get what you’re saying the FDL paired with “Louisiana” on the chest or on a scoreboard helps reinforce the name. But that’s exactly my point: it only works when the wordmark is doing the heavy lifting.

When you list Clemson, Arkansas, Iowa, Penn State, etc., you’re actually proving the argument. Those schools have symbols that are instantly tied to their university identity. Their marks stand alone. When you see the Tiger Paw, the Razorback, the Hawkeye, the Nittany Lion, the Spartan head you immediately know the school without needing the full university name written next to it. Even then Clemson has a C, Arkansas has the A, Iowa does have an I logo etc.

Our FDL doesn’t do that.
It’s a symbol used by hundreds of Louisiana teams, schools, and organizations. It doesn’t say UL, it doesn’t say Louisiana, and it doesn’t function as an academic identity. It only works after you attach the word “Louisiana” to it.

That’s the difference.

Yes, when we put LOUISIANA across the chest, that’s a win.
Yes, when the scoreboard says UL or Louisiana, that’s a win.
But those wins happen because of the wordmark, not because of the FDL.

The FDL doesn’t hurt us it just doesn’t advance the Louisiana identity on its own.
A true university mark should be recognizable without needing the full name spelled out every time. Until we have that, we’re always relying on text to explain who we are, while other schools let their symbols do the talking.

sure doesnt help thar academically, we put the FDL but in another breath we are putting UL-Lafayette, see where i am getting at.

if we had UL with the state and FDL the UL-Lafayette is self-explanatory. It may not look like it but that is the point. If we are trying to establishing the Louisiana Identity athletically and academically.

[31Ragin97]

I somewhat disagree....our fdl is different than the other fdl's.

Also some of those stand alones, that you site only work with the school colors, otherwise nobody would know, but cant our fdl can be in vermilion, black or gray and still recognized

[31Ragin97]

Write Louisiana in the middle oval of the fdl, i couldnt quite get it exactly, but here goes

[Ragin9221]

.I somewhat disagree....our fdl is different than the other fdl's.

Also some of those stand alones, that you site only work with the school colors, otherwise nobody would know, but cant our fdl can be in vermilion, black or gray and still recognized

It’s not that our FDL isn’t recognized it absolutely is. But recognition alone isn’t the issue. The real question is: have we actually established the “Louisiana” identity the way Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, and others have? And the honest answer is no.

Right now, it’s like putting the cart before the horse.
We’ve always had an identity problem, and the FDL doesn’t solve it it just sidesteps it.

Yes, people associate a fleur‑de‑lis with Louisiana.
But that’s exactly the problem

The FDL is associated with Louisiana in the broad, cultural sense not with the University of Louisiana.

It’s tied to New Orleans.
It’s tied to the Saints.
It’s tied to Mardi Gras.
It’s tied to high schools, businesses, churches, nonprofits, state agencies literally hundreds of entities.

So when we use an FDL as our “identifier,” it doesn’t say we are Louisiana.
It says we are another Louisiana based organization using a Louisiana‑based symbol.

That’s not identity that’s geography.

Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, etc. didn’t build their identity on a symbol that represents their state. They built it on university specific marks and wordmarks that became synonymous with the institution itself.

Their logos say who they are.
Our FDL does not.

Our FDL is recognized, but it does not identify us.

That’s why we keep losing the branding battle.
That’s why outsiders default to “UL Lafayette.”

[31Ragin97]

Also maybe a history lesson about all the variants of the FDL and which come from where in history and heladry would be helpful....did my fdl pictures with "Louisiana" typed on it go through?

[Ragin9221]

Also maybe a history lesson about all the variants of the FDL and which come from where in history and heladry would be helpful....did my fdl pictures with "Louisiana" typed on it go through?

Well it was used by rhe Bourbon family back in the 1700’s probably had its roots dating 1500’s used to represent the French Aristocracy, but it was used to represent French Colonialism, i mean it’s used in Quebec, Africa, South America, Louisana etc. Basically any French colony they established.

[31Ragin97]

Well it was used by rhe Bourbon family back in the 1700’s probably had its roots dating 1500’s used to represent the French Aristocracy, but it was used to represent French Colonialism, i mean it’s used in Quebec, Africa, South America, Louisana etc. Basically any French colony they established.

I mean each variant used for which...i.e. the saints one being different than ours

[Ragin9221]

I mean each variant used for which...i.e. the saints one being different than ours

I mean there is all kinds of variants, i mean just take a look around its everywhere in Louisiana. There is probably 100’s if not 1000’s of variants

[Ragin9221]

Okay so here you go. This actually proves my point

From google
The fleur-de-lis is a public domain symbol that cannot be universally trademarked. However, organizations and companies (most notably the New Orleans Saints) successfully trademark specific, stylized versions of the symbol for commercial use on merchandise

i can almost guarantee that Arkansas Razorback is trademarked, same thing with Longhorn logo, or Alabama which they use an A, but we can say the Iowa Hawkeye.

[Ragin9221]

The best way I can explain it is this: it’s like the Texas Star. The Cowboys use it, everyone in the state recognizes it, and it’s absolutely tied to Texas culture.

But if UTSA suddenly started using the Texas Star, would anyone start associating them with being the University of Texas? Of course not.

Let’s take it a step further.
If the University of Texas didn’t exist yet, and UTSA adopted the Texas Star as their main symbol, would that magically establish them as the University of Texas?

No it would only associate them with Texas, not with a specific university identity. Maybe that specific logo or symbol could be used to be associated with the University but does it help the Texas identity they want? Only if it was used with Texas.

That’s exactly the point with our fleur‑de‑lis.

The FDL helps show we’re from Louisiana

It says “Louisiana‑based,” not “University of Louisiana.” or Louisiana.
.

[31Ragin97]

Fine print, for Buffalo, i.e.University of New York at Buffalo....they have changed to to "University AT Buffalo", not univ of buffalo...not a good move in my opinion, but got to do what you got to do i suppose.