During a weeklong public comment period, 660 people wrote in to comment on the logos — with 49 percent rejecting all six designs and only 18 percent supporting the favorite "UH" design.

A 15-member evaluation committee will begin meeting Wednesday to decide whether to adopt one of the designs. The committee is not bound by public opinion, but public opinion played a role last May when it led the university president to scrap both of the candidates under consideration — the "Spectrum" and "Wave" designed by a Baltimore firm.

At that time public opinion — 1,300 e-mails in a week — was running 60 percent against both logos and people poured strong emotions into messages to the university.

The university received half the responses this time around, but Phil Kinnicutt, UH director of marketing and brand management, said, "We saw once again how passionate people are about the University of Hawai'i and they want to be proud of their university whether it is athletics, academics or their graphic identity."

The logos were created by three Hawai'i design firms — Sae Design of Maui and Clarence Lee Design & Associates and Graphic House, both of Honolulu — each of which received $5,000 for initial work in creating two images each. The three firms were chosen from around 40 who submitted their credentials in the process.

The winning firm will receive an additional $5,000.

A final decision rests with a committee that will meet Thursday to begin discussion. Francis Oda, chairman and chief executive officer of Group 70 International, heads the committee.

Any new logo won't replace the athletic logos for Manoa and UH-Hilo, or the UH seal, which will continue to be used on diplomas. But it will be used to "brand" the university nationally and internationally on everything from recruiting brochures to signs and stationery.

The results released by the University of Hawai'i this morning totaled more than 100 percent because some respondents selected more than one design. The breakdown is as follows:

• Design three: 18 percent

• Design six: 10 percent

• Design four: 9 percent

• Design five: 6 percent

• Design one: 5 percent

• Design two: 1 percent

• None of the above: 49 percent

• Miscellaneous comments and suggestions: 8 percent