LSU’s New Logo: A Before-and-After Design Review
A practical before-and-after review of LSU’s updated logo as vector artwork: construction, editability, delivery, and trademark limits.
Contents
What this review is about
This is a before-and-after design review of Louisiana State University’s updated logo as vector artwork. The mark in question is the school’s interlocking athletic lettermark and the related lockups that travel with it, compared with the previous official identity. The practical question is whether the new artwork is a usable vector master for production work, or only a public-facing picture of a logo.
No inspected master files, measurements, or lab tests sit behind this assessment. Path quality, live-type status, and true editability cannot be read from a filename, a file extension, a social crop, or a raster preview. Those points are flagged where they would otherwise be asserted as facts.
The artwork under discussion
LSU’s public identity is built around an interlocking L-S-U lettermark, university wordmarks, and related tiger imagery, in the school’s purple and gold. Conversation about a “new” LSU logo almost always means a refreshed version of that lettermark or a companion lockup, not a separate consumer brand. That distinction matters for vector work: you are evaluating a trademarked institutional mark, not a decorative monogram you can rebuild at will.
A before-and-after review of this kind of mark is a comparison of construction, not a popularity contest. The old lockup and the new one should be judged on how the letters join, how color is separated, how the drawing holds at small sizes, and whether the supplied files are outline artwork or pictures placed inside a vector wrapper.
How to read the before and after
Interlocking lettermarks live or die on outline logic. The L, S, and U share strokes and overlaps, so a refresh usually changes join angles, stroke weight, counter shapes, and how the three letters read as one unit. Those changes only count as vector improvements if they exist as editable paths. A sharper PNG of the same geometry is a preview, not a new master.
Compare the two generations on the same terms. Place the previous official lockup next to the current one at a large working size and at a minimum reproduction size. Look at the joins where letters overlap, the interior counters, the optical balance of the S against the verticals, and whether a one-color version still reads when purple and gold drop out. If the new drawing tightens joins or evens stroke weight, it will typically print and embroider more cleanly. If it adds hairline gaps, extra highlights, or effects that only work in full color, it will be harder to reduce and harder to convert.
- Confirm both generations as outline paths, not embedded bitmaps inside an EPS, PDF, or SVG wrapper.
- Check whether any accompanying wordmark is converted to outlines or still depends on a licensed font file.
- Look for a one-color version, a reversed version, and a full-color version as separate art, not as layer effects on a single file.
- Test the smallest intended size: jersey, social avatar, and one-color print all expose weak counters and crowded overlaps.
- Treat any drop shadow, outer glow, or photographic tiger as a separate graphic, not as part of the core lettermark paths.
Suitability for real logo work
As a design concept, an interlocking athletic lettermark is a strong candidate for vector delivery. It is geometric, color-limited, and meant to scale from a helmet to a letterhead. When the official files are true outlines, the new mark is suitable for print, cut vinyl, embroidery digitizing, and licensed merchandise that must match the brand. That suitability belongs to the official vector masters and to users who are allowed to apply them. It does not automatically belong to a downloaded web image.
The same construction that makes the mark distinctive also limits casual editing. Shared strokes mean you cannot restyle one letter without breaking the lockup. Tight counters and overlaps punish low-resolution traces and auto-traced downloads. Secondary tiger art, if it is shaded or photographic, is often a raster or a complex mesh even when the lettermark itself is clean. Anyone preparing files should keep the core monogram and the illustrative mascot in separate assets.
This option suits campus units, licensed vendors, and media operators working from official artwork under brand rules. It is a poor fit for redesign practice files, unofficial merch, or any workflow that treats a preview as a master. Permission to view or download a logo is not permission to modify the artwork, substitute fonts, or use the trademarks.
What a usable vector package should contain
A production-ready identity kit for this mark should separate the lettermark, horizontal and stacked wordmarks, and any mascot art. Full-color, one-color, and reversed versions should exist as independent drawings. Spot-color builds that match the school’s purple and gold are the right master for print; process and digital color conversions are derivatives, not replacements. Clear-space and minimum-size rules belong with the files so operators do not invent their own crop.
Native outline files remain the working masters. A PDF or EPS can still contain a placed raster; an SVG can still embed a PNG; an AI file can still hold live type that will substitute on another machine. Open the artwork and inspect the objects. If you cannot select individual letter paths, you do not have an editable vector logo, regardless of the container format.
| Criterion | Before (previous lockup) | After (current lockup) | Why it matters |
| Path construction | Must be confirmed in the old master, not assumed from print samples | Must be confirmed in the new master; a new look in a raster does not prove new outlines | Editability, cutting, and clean enlargement |
| Letter joins | Older interlocking geometry may show heavier overlaps or optically uneven joins | A refresh should even stroke weight and simplify joins if it is meant for modern production | Embroidery, vinyl, and small-size printing |
| Typography | Wordmarks may still depend on the original typefaces | Outlined wordmarks travel; live fonts do not, unless the font is licensed and embedded | File handoff and legal use of type |
| Color system | Purple-and-gold lockups plus one-color use | Same requirement: spot masters, plus one-color and reversed art | Merchandise and single-ink jobs |
| Mascot and effects | Older kits sometimes mixed lettermark and illustrated tiger | Keep illustrative art off the core paths | Prevents a complex drawing from contaminating the simple mark |
| Delivery | Official kit versus web-scraped preview | Official kit versus web-scraped preview; the problem does not disappear with a redesign | Determines whether you can actually produce the logo |
Limits of this review
This review can judge the kind of artwork LSU’s logo is, and the tests a before-and-after vector comparison should run. It cannot certify that any specific download is outline-correct, color-accurate, or licensed for your use. Those findings require the official files, an object-level inspection, and the university’s current trademark and licensing terms. Until those are in hand, treat public images of the new logo as reference pictures, and treat the previous official masters as the last verified production art you actually hold.