To say a lot goes into a new basketball court concept and design would be quite an understatement.
On Friday, Ohio State unveiled two new, interchangeable basketball courts that will debut in Value City Arena this upcoming season. A first-of-its-kind Scarlet and Gray court, the Buckeyes sought to uphold the university's tradition while also ushering in a new era of OSU basketball.
New court tough ngl
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) June 13, 2025
https://t.co/yAIKeyC2yu pic.twitter.com/yxsj2oujNm
With the debut of the new court, which features a first-of-its-kind interchangeable midcourt logo – one being a Block "O" resembling the football team's midfield decal and the other being a script "Buckeyes" – I caught up with Ohio State’s lead graphic designer, Joe Gemma, who designed the new court, to learn more about the process that led to the final design and get a behind-the-scenes look at what all goes into creating a new court before it debuts inside the Schottenstein Center.
The interview has been slightly edited for length and clarity.
Q: When did you start developing concepts for this redesign? Was it during the offseason, or was it long before then?
Gemma: Concepting for our new floor began in late January, early February. That period is just getting every idea you have on paper. Working with small groups, getting general feedback from other designers and people I trust before presenting it to the larger group of key decision-makers in early April. That meeting led to a round of edits and new concepts. Those new concepts were then presented at a follow-up meeting in mid-April before deciding on a final design by the end of April.
Q: How many concepts/designs did you make, and approximately how long did it take to make each one?
Gemma: I have at least 30+ concepts on my computer, some of which are almost identical to one another, aside from small details. Some concepts took a few hours, others took much less time, depending on how complex they were or how similar they were to something I had previously made.
Q: Which one was your favorite concept and why?
Gemma: As much as this might come off as the political answer, my favorite concept is the one we chose. There are elements of other concepts that I liked and think would have been interesting to explore further, but ultimately, the final design is one that I think best accomplishes the goals we set out to accomplish as a group.
Q: If you had a least favorite, what was your least favorite concept and why?
Gemma: There were a few particularly gaudy designs that just didn’t match our vision for the program. I favor traditional design aesthetics over something busy or distracting. Ohio State’s core is built on tradition; anything that strays too far from that is always going to feel misaligned in my view.
“I favor traditional design aesthetics over something busy or distracting. Ohio State’s core is built on tradition; anything that strays too far from that is always going to feel misaligned in my view.”– Joe Gemma
Q: What did you try and include in the majority of concepts and why?
Gemma: It’s maybe less about specific design elements to include and more about trying to make something noticeably different from previous courts without straying too far away from our core athletics identity. It was important to our group that fans who have watched us for the last 10 years immediately notice a change. That can be done in a multitude of ways, but every concept I had was very intentional about making something that wouldn’t be confused as a minor tweak that your average fan might miss.
Q: Were you given any guidance on what had to be included in each concept?
Gemma: Certain aspects of our brand are very inflexible. We can’t have OHIO STATE written out in any font we want. We can’t create new logos to put at midcourt. We are tied to the core brand that you see show up on other playing surfaces across our 36 sports. Thankfully, we have a fairly deep bag of brand assets to mix and match, allowing for plenty of creativity in how you arrange them.
“It was important to our group that fans who have watched us for the last 10 years immediately notice a change.”– Joe Gemma
Q: What was your favorite aspect of the court/concept that you came up with, both on the court that was picked and in all of the concepts overall?
Gemma: The interchangeability of the midcourt logo to provide a second look for our teams on game day is easily my favorite aspect of the court. It’s something we never could do.
Q: The preview video went through each court that has been used over the years/decades. What types of ideas/concepts did you like the most from those specific courts that you made sure to include in this one?
Gemma: The thing that stood out the most to me was the change and evolution of the floor over different eras. Each era seemed to have its own look. Early St John’s was very minimalistic; the Kellogg years saw some additions of logos, text under the rim, colored key. Jim Jackson played on that iconic state of Ohio with OHIO STATE above it at midcourt. I think we were overdue to define a “new era,” which informed some of the design decisions to move away from some of the things we’ve gotten comfortable recycling over our last few floors.
“The interchangeability of the midcourt logo to provide a second look for our teams on game day is easily my favorite aspect of the court. It’s something we never could do.”– Joe Gemma
Q: Did you get any input from coaches and/or players?
Gemma: Yes! Coaches care very much about the courts their teams play on. Both coaches (men’s and women’s basketball) gave input along with a few select players. Ultimately, they’re the most affected by these changes; to box them out of the process would be a mistake.
Q: Likely not, but does the court (colors/logos/fonts) symbolize anything regarding the type(s) of uniforms the OSU men will wear this season?
Gemma: Our primary uniforms will not be seeing any changes for the upcoming season. These courts have a shelf life of 5-7 years, designing them around a single uniform would be too short-sighted. We were not focused on one singular uniform when designing the floor, but there are elements drawn from some of our uniforms.
“I think we were overdue to define a 'new era,' which informed some of the design decisions to move away from some of the things we’ve gotten comfortable recycling over our last few floors.”– Joe Gemma
Q: Why did the final design get picked?
Gemma: The final design was the one we felt best honored tradition while creating something that felt unique to the next era of Ohio State basketball. We went back and forth on the gray floor, but ultimately decided it was worth trying something new. There are so many audiences to consider on a project like this; you’re trying to appeal to the season ticket holder of 30+ years, the casual fan who comes to a game or two a year, the students, recruits, and so many others. We felt this one checked the most boxes across the board when considering the interests of those groups.
Q: How many people were involved in the process, both in developing the concepts (was it just you?) and narrowing it down to eventually pick the final court design?
Gemma: I was the only person responsible for developing and revising the concepts, but the group of people involved at some level is probably around 30 if you include folks from our design team, marketing, digital media, communications, ticketing, administration, coaches, players, and plenty more. Nobody rules with an iron fist; every decision of this size is made collaboratively. The process was fairly straightforward. I would go into each meeting with a prepared presentation of concepts that we’d discuss as a group, pulling out the things we liked and eliminating the things we didn’t. Each subsequent meeting narrows the list further until we landed on our final design.
“The final design was the one we felt best honored tradition while creating something that felt unique to the next era of Ohio State basketball. We went back and forth on the gray floor, but ultimately decided it was worth trying something new.”– Joe Gemma
Q: Have you been part of any other redesigns involving Ohio State athletics? If so, have you been a major part of them, or is this your biggest project yet?
Gemma: I’ve been involved in many large-scale projects over the last few years at OSU, but this was probably the largest project I’ve been trusted to fully lead. I’m super grateful to be trusted with a project of this scale. I love this program, so projects like these are super personal for me. I’ve lost sleep over this thing, so I’m excited for it to finally release. I’m cautiously optimistic that most fans will be happy with the change.
