It was, simply, the NIU Huskie logo with a black ribbon behind it – but it came to symbolize much more. It was the symbol of an infamous day and the days of mourning that came after it.

It came to represent many different things to many different people. It represented mourning, remembrance, tragedy and even the event itself. Now NIU has decided to move on from that logo to a new one they hope will show that the university is coping.

Located at the bottom, left-hand corner of the NIU Web site it reads “NIU REMEMBERS,” with “NIU” in red and “REMEMBERS” in black. It has a white background, and a black and red ribbon sits next to “NIU.”

Melanie Magara, assistant vice president of Public Affairs, had a hand in creating what she calls a “memorial symbol” or “word mark.”

“That represents a turning of the corner for us,” she said. “We’re doing something to visually signal change. We will never forget this. We are turning a corner. We are moving on.”

This new icon acts as a link to the Feb. 14 Memorial Site which includes, among other things, biographies of the five fallen students, videos and photos of campus vigils, and services and a link to a condolences page, featuring messages from people all over the country sent to NIU in the days following Feb. 14.

Magara would like to dispel rumors that the original NIU memorial logo has been banned or its use restricted.

“It has not been discontinued,” she said. “A couple of issues have gotten intertwined. The issue that was raised shortly after the shootings had to do about fundraising; who could use official logos … It was never really about the logo, just the use of it to make money.”

She said people are still allowed to ask the university for permission to use the memorial logo, and decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. She said the majority of people who ask to use it have good intentions.

“It’s the way they have to acknowledge and respect,” she said. “We don’t want to restrict that.”

NIU Athletics used the memorial logo on their apparel last semester, but will no longer be using it, said Todd Garzarelli, associate athletic director of Marketing, Corporate and Broadcast Relations.

“We’re just removing the patches from the jerseys this year, not scrapping them, as we move forward with the university,” he said.

Art Education Professor Kerry Freedman said logos affect people on two separate levels.

“They work on a perceptual system to attract our attention,” she said. “Logos tend to work on a cultural level. They have some kind of cultural significance.”

Both memorial logos have different meanings, Freedman said.

“The new logo won’t have the same association as the old logo,” she said. “We’re at a transitional point. The new logo has a reference to the past, but it’s about now.”

No one knows for sure who created the original logo. With the proliferation from the Internet and sites like Facebook, the logo was passed around from person to person until it came to represent the tragedy. Eventually, the university adopted it and cleaned it up to make it look professional, Magara said.

Magara recommends, but doesn’t insist, that other Web sites use the new logo to follow NIU’s lead and signify that NIU is moving on. How long the new logo will be used is unknown.

“There is no etiquette book; no guidebook,” she said. “I think we’ll know when it feels right.”