Tradition Never Graduates

…It Just Gets Better.

BELOCK DESIGN partners with NDDL for second consecutive year.

Ryan Belock | Creative Director, Belock Design | September 2014

Tradition gets spark of bold design for the Notre Dame Drumline. BELOCK DESIGN sprung out of a direct association between the University of Notre Dame Drumline (NDDL), part of the Band of the Fighting Irish, America’s oldest university band in continuous existence and two brothers who each played on the drumline and studied design as undergraduates. Ryan (’11, ’12 BA) and Brett (’08 BA, ’14 MBA) Belock set out to find better means of communicating to clients the importance of establishing a clear identity and creating products that tell a story and leave a legacy.

Pictured: 2014 edition of NDDL logo, “The Gold Standard.” Updated in 2011, the current NDDL logo features more legible font than its earlier predecessors. Design by Ryan Belock.

The storied tradition of the NDDL has stood the test of time, but its beloved section T-shirt design was missing some basic TLC. Starting with the NDDL logo itself, a traditional block emblem with letters N-D-D-L, BELOCK DESIGN honored its form and function by readjusting the supporting text to match the geometry of the original block logo. Coupled with an updated font, the logo now reads more clearly and can easily be applied to different surfaces at different scales and retain its legibility.

As far as the NDDL is concerned, tradition never graduates. It just gets better.

Last year, BELOCK DESIGN had the pleasure to design a theme surrounding the unique phenomenon of Midnight Drummers’ Circle, which marks the official start to football Saturdays at the University of Notre Dame. “Victory Begins at Midnight,” or #VBAM, has become the newly trademarked slogan for the Notre Dame Drumline and the Official Start to Gameday at Notre Dame.

Another special experience for the NDDL is to lead the Band of the Fighting Irish onto the field from the legendary tunnel in Notre Dame Stadium.

Pictured: Facebook cover photo for the Notre Dame Drumline Facebook page, created for the “reveal” of the theme and design of the 2014 season T-Shirt “Here Come the Irish.” Design by Ryan Belock.

The 2014 [NDDL] T-Shirt (theme pictured above) captures the mystique of “The House That Rockne Built” from the drumline’s perspective of the tunnel, as each sub-section of the drumline approaches the field. The monogram ND and plaid uniform highlight the silhouetted ensemble embarking onto the gridiron.

BELOCK DESIGN is humbled to help illustrate this incredible story for yet another season.

-RB