What will Sacramento State, the San Francisco 49ers, San Diego State, Kristi Yamaguchi and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers soon have in common?

The answer is the identity design team of Osaki Design Inc.

The Berkeley-based design team made its visit to Sac State on Friday to get ideas from students and faculty.

The branding committee chose Osaki after closely scrutinizing a number of presentations from various companies. Osaki will provide the designs for logos and style guides for the university.

“Our job is to create the book cover,” said Kurt Osaki, president of the design company. “We sell the book and tell the story of the people. An identity package creates pride from within. I think there’s so much potential here at Sac State.”

Meetings with the Osaki included the athletic department, the CSUS Foundation and the Faculty Senate.

“We want open feedback — their thoughts and feeling about this process,” Osaki said. “We want to know who they are and their personal beliefs. We want to hear their story.”

Osaki believes one of the reasons his firm won the bid was “the energy” of his company.

“We have a very diverse clientele,” Osaki said. “Every identity package we have produced is unique. We pride ourselves on that because every client is unique.”

Frank Whitlatch of public affairs said Osaki was chosen partly because of its strong presentation.

“They’re contemporary … with an edge,” Whitlatch said. “They’re not exactly what you’d expect. Their designs jump out at you and get your attention. It’s not going to be a generic look from this team.”

Osaki’s bid of $34,000 was one of the lowest submitted, Whitlatch said.

A team of six or more people will be working on the design. Coordination between the university and Osaki will come from account executive Liane Kitajima, whom Osaki described as his “right hand.”

“She keeps us on track,” said Osaki. “She will be very involved with the research and scheduling.”

Osaki said he hopes to convey the deep history of Sac State and Sacramento.

“Sacramento is growing so fast,” said Osaki. “We’re at the point that it’s going explode. What we need to do is convey that message.”

Mark Livingston, associate athletic director of marketing for Sac State, worked with the athletic department for the University of Hawaii when Kurt Osaki designed its university’s mark. Livingston met with Osaki during the tour of Sac State.

“His work at the University of Hawaii was phenomenal,” Livingston said. “I was really excited when he was chosen. It really helps to have a brand that stands out. It just brings more recognition to the university.”

Sac State colors and mascot will not change, Whitlatch said. The branding committee hopes to have a logo prototype to take to the May board of trustees meeting when the name change will be voted on.