System President Judy Genshaft announced the new academic logo at her annual fall address last month. ORACLE PHOTO/JESSE STOKES

After weeks of opinions from students, faculty and alumni on the new USF academic logo, the updated Bull can now officially be seen in areas on and around campus.

Sitting at the intersection of Holly Dr. and Maple Dr., across from Greek Village, is one example of where the new light pole banners can be seen.

According to Joe Hice, the university’s chief marketing officer, these new banners will take place of all of the old ones, including down Fowler Ave., but are just one step toward fully rolling out the new logo.

“(The light pole banners) will be the first element and then on Friday, you will start to see some interior banners going up at the Marshall Student Center and in various places around campus,” Hice said.

According to Hice, the 378 banners for 189 light poles on and around campus will be up for two years and cost $26,974.

He added that the new logo will also be seen elsewhere around campus, including through a new “signature system,” for things like letterheads and brochures, across all three campuses — Tampa, St. Pete and Sarasota-Manatee — by Oct. 14.

It is not all physical changes, however, Hice also said that the USF website will soon be updated as well.

“The other thing that is going to start changing next week is the university website,” Hice said. “The home page and a number of the pages will go with the new design for the logo and that is going to be introduced over a period of time. There are a lot of pages (on the website), it just takes time to make the changes.”

Hice said he thinks the new brand will make the university more noticeable to prospective new students and donors.

“One of the things that we found when we did our focus groups with students, was that they all commented that when they were going through their selection process, they saw literally a sea of initials … but they said that if they would have seen the bull, they would have stopped and paid more attention to our university because it is different,” Hice said. It is that difference and that attitude that we are trying to do everything that we can to really make it stand out. It is more effective when it comes to attracting students.”

Hice said he and the university’s marketing team hope the new look will attract donors through outlets such as The Chronicle of Higher Education and Florida Trend Magazine, but that will not happen until after the new year.

Hice said the addition of the lime green and brighter yellow, called “Horizon,” will make the brand of the university stand out more and will also avoid issues with the traditional gold color looking tan when it is printed. He said because the intended gold color can often become diluted, it is likely that it will be reserved for official documents, like diplomas.

Hice said that the university should not be afraid of change and that ambition is important to consider.

“We are the Bulls,” Hice said. “There is no question in anyone’s mind that we are the Bulls and we will continue to be the USF Bulls. I think it is a good way to demonstrate that we continually look toward the future, but still make changes without breaking that tradition. It is that theme, ‘ambition over tradition.’”

Hice said that tradition is important, but it will be looking to the future that is key for USF’s development moving forward.

“We care about our tradition, but we are more focused on the future than our peers out there and we want all of the students that interested to know that,” Hice said.