A Fierce New Face for the Smith Bears

Smith’s new Bears logo doesn’t simply represent a mascot; it channels more than 130 years of sports history along with the grit, resolve, and competitive spirit of Smith’s student-athletes past and present.

“We have a new face for Senda Bear,” Athletics Director Kristin Hughes, M.S. ’93, said in announcing the new mark in January.

Created by California-based designer Jaison Williams, who has developed logos and visual identities for big names like Nike and Adidas as well as Division I athletics teams, the mark features a bear head rendered in Smith’s blue and gold. A bear paw stands as a secondary element. “The bear’s stoic expression is meant to convey the academic seriousness of this place, while the determination evident in the eyes and posture reflects our athletic spirit and collective competitiveness,” Hughes said.

The unveiling of the new visual identity for Senda represents the culmination of a yearlong effort to update the college’s mascot. The name “Bears” was chosen last spring after a communitywide process that drew more than 1,200 submissions from students, faculty, staff, and alums.

Animals were the clear favorite, and bears ultimately clawed their way to the top.

Layered into the design are a number of “Easter eggs” related to Smith and the history of athletics at the college. The bear’s eyes, for example, tilt skyward at an angle of 18.92 degrees in tribute to the year Senda Berenson began as director of physical training and introduced basketball to Smith. A year later, in March 1893, the college hosted the first-ever intercollegiate women’s basketball game. The bear paw—shaped in the outline of Paradise Pond—shares the 18.92-degree angle. Meanwhile, the accompanying lettering echoes the typeface used on the college’s original physical education uniforms from the 1800s, Hughes said. “There’s so much storytelling about Smith and our athletics program, its history and impact, in this one simple design,” she said.

Something student-athletes and coaches did not want when considering a new logo was a “warm and fuzzy, happy, cartoonish” bear, Hughes noted. “Smith athletes work and train really hard every day, and that spirit of dedication and fierceness needed to be reflected,” she said.

Alexandra Keller, dean of the college and vice president for campus life, is excited by the potential connections the new logo can foster among members of the Smith community. “We have our personification of Senda that comes to games and other campus events, but Senda can’t travel as extensively as the mark can,” she said. “Now we have a way for Senda to move almost anywhere. I love that in some far-flung place, someone with the new Senda mark on their T-shirt will be visible to another Smithie or another Smith fan. Imagine all the connections because of that.”