I was all ready to jump back in to slicing and dicing some muzak when I was stopped in my tracks by all the commotion in design circles around a new logo unveiling (besides, I can’t resist occasionally slipping some sports goodies past Cale.) The Detroit Lions celebrated the end of a dismal 0-16 season (much harder to do than one might imagine) with the first pick in this Saturday’s draft. Before picking the next face of the franchise and subjecting quarterback Matthew Stafford to a season full of admiring the lights on the roof on Ford Field while 350 pound men lie on top of him, the team unveiled a re-vamped logo and uniforms to the hungry press corp.
Awkward posing by players quickly ensued.
It is likely that I would have glanced over at the hub bub and simply moved on, but I was struck by the manner in which the re-design was described. Time and again the project was explained as a need to provide the fans with a more “fierce” logo to represent the product on the field and the loyalty in their fan’s hearts.
The logo itself is actually a nice exploration and refinement of where the mark was previously. The added negative space with the white areas adds negative space and action and while it is a stronger execution it is not terribly “fierce.” The new custom typography is more dynamic, if a bit over done (does every letter need the little “tail” effect?) I do like that it has a simplified approach overall and doesn’t fall into the super busy animated look of too many of today’s sports logos. There seems to be a return to this mode of thinking and I am in full support of creating a sports mark that can be iconic and actually embroider on to a collared golf shirt for better or worse.
Sticking with the traditional “Honolulu” blue of the franchise might hamper the possibilities for “fierceness” but the designers added a streak of black to toughen things up. Nicely done.
The entire discussion reminded me of the reasoning behind altering a team’s logo and how much things have changed since I was a young lad. Marketing sports franchises is now all about selling merchandise and the money comes from so many sources other than ticket sales that they no longer worry about fostering new fans. Stay with me for a minute and you’ll see why I ponder whether this is the right move.
In the early stages of most sports leagues the focus was on endearing the team to the local population and most importantly in cultivating young fans so that they would grow into the die-hards standing in long lines or wind-swept stands. Success on the field/court/rink and in the bank account would wash away or fog this focus. Some storied franchises have managed to hold this line but it is more for nostalgic reasoning or fear of change at this point.
However, in the 60s and 70s different leagues found their product gripped by the public’s perception that the players were drug-fueled and overpaid and not worth their hard earned dollars when times got tight (sound familiar?) This inspired a new cuddly wave of character-based marks that served to soften that perception and directly appeal to children and allow them to embrace he local heroes. I was in my formative years during this phase and it certainly holds a brighter glow in my memory than might be justified but I sometimes wonder if “fierce” is really what we need moving forward.
Inspired as such I dug up some of the “least fierce” logos of all time. I stuck to major franchises as the marketplace has been littered with hokey fly by night franchises with goofy marks and names so the bar was high for these to qualify.
This explains why I am still a fan of the Padres and Nuggets for no good reason what so ever other than being taken with their logos at an early age.
The Ft. Wayne Pistons and Philly Warriors trying to get their franchises off the ground and the Cincy Redlegs and Milwaukee Bucks wowing the kids. The Disney fueled (and horribly misplaced) hokey Mighty Ducks logo giving way to the smart refinement for the current Boston Red Sox logo and finishing up with the Washington Senators logo from their last few years with the hilarious cloaked representive rearing back a pitch. Enjoy.
John Foster owns his very own design firm, Bad People Good Things and is the author of For Sale: Over 200 Innovative Solutions in Packaging Design (HOW), New Masters of Poster Design (Rockport), Maximum Page Design (HOW) as well as an upcoming collection of handmade graphics entitled Dirty Fingernails for Rockport and a monograph on Jeff Kleinsmith for Sub Pop Records.
God loves a cheerful giver.
Shockingly, the new Lions logo is actually pretty cool. It's probably one of the most successful redesigns of a major franchise's logo in recent memory. I hate the angular, "feirce" mascot style that's way too prevalent in pro sports.
How about doing a rundown of the 10 worst pro sports mascot redesigns ever? I'm thinking Denver Broncos (from the realistic horse in the D to the awful wedge-shaped horses head) or Patriots (losing the minuteman center for the wedge-shaped head design) or the Buccaneers (ditching the bright orange gay pirate for whatever it is that they have now).
Having grown up with the Bucs, I can tell you that the logo that Svetlana supplies is "Buccaneer Bruce." We were so happy when the team redesigned their uniforms in the late 1990's (and started winning). But now, this old logo is growing on me.
I was taken with ol' Bruce and his comic book stylings as a kid in the 70s and the Bucs having such a different color scheme was really appealing but I think the re-design of their look was needed and well done for the most part. I do think there is a clunkiness to a lot of the NFL logos but I might not be the best person to compile Jesse's wish list as I think the Pats, Broncos and Bucs all made moves for the better even if they weren't perfect in the execution.
That was one thing I liked a lot about the movie "Any Given Sunday." The team logos were well designed because they were being done by a set designer with no other factors other than the design involved in the choices.
a bad logo that must be included in the worst list is the buffalo sabres re-design...also, that denver nuggets logo is badass! but i like how european football clubs have been able to generally keep there badges relevant for more than 100 years in some cases
I beleive that Bucco Bruce and the orange Tampa Bay Buccaneers jerseys were brilliant. I loved those jerseys a lot as a kid. There were really unique.
the blue jays redesign has to be the biggest atrocity in sports logo design. that old-school logo was awesome with it's sharp lines.