Posted
Be on the lookout for these major changes in the following rebrands:
Bold Lines and Saturated Colors:
A common thread among the redesigns is bolder, harsher lines and saturated colors. I'm all for it, especially when the brands are promoting strength and power. The bold lines ground the logos and make them visible at a distance. This is very important when you're sitting in a stadium packed with more than 90,000 people.
Respect for Tradition:
Fans are superstitious about their teams and players. Just think about The Curse of the Bambino, The Madden Curse and the Sports Illustrated Cover Curse - to name a few . The following franchises are fully aware of how passionate their fans can be, and I say they did an excellent job of treading lightly when it came to updating their brands.
Keeping Up with the Joneses:
Sports has become big business. With ticket, TV and merchandise deals it's not just a game anymore. Capitalizing on fan hype, Nike made uniform variations cool with the launch of it's Pro Combat line several years ago. The resulting trend has since spread like wildfire, leaving behind some...ahem..."memorable" moments involving camo print, bumblebee stripes and neon yellow uniforms.
Although it serves as a nice change of pace every once and a while these variations are just meant to get attention and spike apparel sales (unless you're Boise State...then it's meant to become invisible). Thing is, if you want to unite a fan base and breathe new life into the organization you have to go much further than that. A rebrand has to capture the heart of a program, not just capitalize on fan hype. I would say that the following teams did a great job of recognizing their traditions while positioning them for a new era.
Now Some Specific Thoughts On Each Rebrand:
1) University of Georgia Bulldogs
- The old bulldog (Uga) looked like a sad knockoff of the beloved cartoon dog, Droopy.
- New bulldog looks ticked off (a good thing for a sports logo).
- I love the angle of the illustration. It's like the dog is larger than life. Instead of hiding under the bill of his hat, Uga's looking down his snout, trying to figure out what limb to tear apart first.
- Nice incorporation of primary "G" logo in the collar. It nicely ties the mascot illustration to the primary logo.
- Great symmetry. The logo looks balanced, grounded and strong.
- Awesome basketball uni design. Love the faint bulldog and grey pattern behind the numbers.
2) Oregon State Beavers
- The old beaver illustration looked incredibly nerdy, fitting in more with Nickelodeon's Angry Beavers than a college athletic department.
- The new logo has a great sense of movement. I mean, a beaver probably isn't the greatest mascot to have. They aren't intimidating, they aren't fast and they aren't really cunning. If anything they are just persistent and hard working. In this case however, a few liberties were taken to make the beaver seem a little more agile than nature intended. I think it worked out well.
- Cool font…I like how tight and blocky it is. The weight of the type grounds the logo mark and the style definitely skews towards traditional collegiate letterman jackets, but with a modern twist (slanted lines on some of the serifs and sharp points on the T's in "State").
- Uniforms look great! Home/away jerseys and gloves shown below.
3) Miami Dolphins
- The bonnet is gone! I'm not sure what the deal is, but apparently it was popular at one time to put hats on sports logos (see University of Georgia's old logo). Seriously though, good call to lose the hat.
- The new logo is slick and graceful. Although I prefer a sports mascot to look a little vicious, speed is also an important component of football. I would say this is an acceptable departure.
- What color is it? I looked all over the internet and found several variations of the orange and teal. The official website's version is slightly lighter, so I assume that this is the real version. If that's the case, I'm not a big fan of the desaturated orange and teal. It makes the logo feel kinda weak, and a little harder to see from a distance. The new shape is less masculine and now that it's not as bold I'm afraid that some fans may see the rebrand as a little too feminine.
- New uniforms are in the works, but check out a couple unofficial concepts below:
4) Jacksonville Jaguars
- Great redesign! Slight revisions, similar shape, updated design. In my opinion, rebrands are successful when you don't have to re-sell your image to you customers. The logo basically looks the same to a casual viewer. I believe that a non-fan probably wouldn't notice. That's a good thing for brand recognition and retention.
- Old jaguar looked sleepy and bored. The new mark is intimidating with it's sharp teeth and squinted eyes.
- MOTION! The new mark looks like the jaguar pouncing on it's prey.
- New uniforms are in the works.
- Check out the type and shield variation below:
5) Minnesota Vikings
- This is the least noticeable change of the bunch. Only slight changes were made, but it's a great overall result.
- It's always a good idea to simplify when it comes to logo design. The Vikings achieved this by reducing the shading on the horns and simplifying the braids. Any successful logo has to work well on a lapel pin and a billboard. When reduced to a small size, details seem to blur together. That's why simplicity is key.
- Bold lines! The new logo features thicker lines that make the norseman feel stronger and more muscular.
- New uniform unveil set for April 25, but the Vikings released a teaser shown below.
Overall, I think these brands did a great job at updating. The new logos are versatile and work well in each of their applications - the most important obviously being on jerseys that can be seen at a distance.
I suspect that other organizations will follow suit by continuing to update their branding. However, don't expect the likes of traditional brands to come anywhere close to touching their logo. The recourse from their fan base would be far to severe and gruesome to even begin discussing.