BY Armin

Scawy Bunny Wabbit

Earlier this morning I set out to write a one-paragraph review of this logo. It’s 10:15 p.m., I’m missing the Oscars, I have nearly 20 tabs open in Safari, and I’m just now finishing to unravel the epic evolution that involved one reputable sports logo firm, a few hundred designers (and non-designers surely), a contest, and, of course, a committee. In 18 months. Ready? The story starts when South Dakota State University (SDSU) started to transition into the Division I of athletic competition in 2004, but it only starts to really unspool in October of 2005 when the athletic director noticed how bad its logo was in comparison to the other slick logos of DI schools. So they enlisted New York-based Phoenix Design Works (PDW) to tackle the challenge — but not before asking another firm to do “some preliminary designs”, whatever that means — with the goal to unveil a new design in February of 2007. From what I gather PDW started working on the logo somewhere in late 2006. In October of that year, PDW showed up to SDSU to present 30 design options, and as a response, the committee “took the representatives north of campus to watch jackrabbits running” hoping that this experience “would help them design a jackrabbit that fits SDSU better,” because, “their previous exposure to jackrabbits was online photos.” This should tell you enough about the process.

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BY Armin

Super Bowl in Perspective

Less than 24 hours after Super Bowl XLII aired on FOX, NBC (which will air the next Super Bowl) unveiled the logo for the XLIII edition of the Super Game in Tampa Bay during a commercial break of American Gladiators, hoping to get their audience excited and their DVRs programmed 364 days in advance. There are a couple of firsts for this logo: The first, and the somewhat ridiculous, is that it’s the first logo unveiled a year in advance, which Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports and Olympics pegged as simply “an initial indication of how excited we are to broadcast the Super Bowl”; and, second, it’s the first Super Bowl logo to use green — something that I found quite amazing actually, given that for three hours straight you are looking at a couple of dozen figurines (including the zebras) battling on a giant field of green, so go figure. The logo is meant “to reflect the natural elements of Tampa Bay, including the blue and green hues of the regional waterways and landscapes” and if you are wondering what the towering numbers in perspective represent, it’s “an abstract representation of a stadium and field.” Emphasis mine: Just a stadium? Any stadium? Okay. Like any major sports event logo, this one is meant to look bigger than life and exciting beyond belief, and it does so as well as the rest. The obvious critique is that this Super Bowl could take place anywhere, as there is nothing specific to Tampa Bay — maybe there is nothing about Tampa Bay to be specific about? — to make it unique, and neither did the last one, where at least something could have been made out of the Cardinal’s shiny new stadium… Maybe we are just seeing the start of the latest trend in this category: Perspective + Dimension + Stars +/- Slab Serifs.

Thanks to Daniel Peck for the tip.

BY Brand New

Branding, Apple Pie and Chevrolet

Guest Editorial by Von Glitschka

As a kid I grew up collecting baseball trading cards. I never worried about getting the entire set, I just collected the players I liked best. As far as the product was concerned it was pretty low-grade card stock, cheap full-color printing on the front with a one spot color uncoated back. The rock hard stick of chewing gum that came with each pack would often ruin the card next to it, or stain it with the white powder that coated the gum. This went on year in and year out throughout my childhood with a few new companies coming on the scene but still using the same tired methodology. In 1989 a new rookie company entered the trading card game. Its name was Upper Deck.

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BY JonSel

A Swing and a Miss

Hello! I’m Jonathan Selikoff, along with Jim Palmer, Tim McCarver, Dick Vitale, Mel Allen, Dick Enberg and Dr. Joyce Brothers. Join us, for this all-important contest between the logos and uniforms of the old Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays.

We’ve got a heck of a competition tonight, don’t you think Dick?

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BY Ryan Hembree

A Bogey for the New LPGA

These Girls Rock is the “brand platform” launched in 2005 to support the positioning and five-year plan of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), and mid-way through that plan the LPGA has unveiled a new identity. Well, in addition to being a little chauvinistic by labeling the women of golf Girls (or is that just me?) the new identity developed by SME doesn’t necessarily Rock.

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BY Armin

Chicago’s Rising Star

Almost a year ago, the city of Chicago unveiled its Olypmic applicant city identity and was welcomed with rare fanfare from the design community. Smart, surprising and sophisticated were all regular compliments — and these are only the ones that start with an s. Then in May of 2007, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) changed the rules of the bidding process for cities, with one clause stating that city logos “shall not contain the Olympic symbol, the Olympic motto, the Olympic flag, any other Olympic-related imagery [such as] flame, torch, medal, etc.” Chicago 2016’s skyline torch was now breaking the law.

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BY JonSel

It is high! It is far! It is caught at the wall.

Dear New York Yankees,

I love you. Let’s get that clear from the start. It’s unconditional. I loved you when you traded for Ken Phelps I loved you when you finished in last place in 1990. I loved you when George was banned, and still loved you when he came back. So I hope you understand that what I’m going to say is said out of deep embrace than of callous embitterment. I can’t be bitter; I’m not from Boston.

So, here’s the deal: your all-star game logo, for the final, wonderful year of Yankee Stadium, sucks.

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BY Armin

NFLicious

This will perhaps come across as the laziest post I have ever written for Brand New. But there is an inherent familiarity and ubiquity with the NFL (and its logo) that I feel does not require any of my typical anecdotal set ups or concise briefings. What I like about this discussion is that it finally comes down to execution. The problem with the old logo is clear: It’s out of date and it’s hard to reproduce. The solution is even simpler: Make it more contemporary and relevant and easier to reproduce. Oh, and, yes, don’t fuck it up. Everything you need to know, and the only things there are to know, about the logo are in the hands of this heavily linked USA Today article. Enjoy!

Thanks to everyone who e-mailed.

BY Armin

All Horns Blazing

Something I did not expect to see smack in the middle of July — specially when no one is paying any attention to professional basketball, specially after such boring finals — was an unveiling of the 2008 NBA All-Star game logo [bigger view here], to be played in New Orleans a good eight months from now. Even after the devastating effects that the city went through, it is still one of the nation’s most flavorful, with its music roots keeping it afloat and its unique architecture and texture shining through. The All-Star logo — in all of its polished professionalism, typical sports semi-dimensionality and inevitable, expected, city-centric visual cues — manages to convey some personality and add a little spice to the anticlimactic, über family friendly affair that the All-Star game has turned into. The “All-Star” custom typography is quite smooth and has a nice vintage smell to it, nicely complemented by the iron work line art “growing” from the basketball at the bottom. The trumpets (or “brass instruments” as specified in the press release) are not necessarily my cup of tea, but they do add nice tension to the circular logo. The “2008” text is by far the least resolved with way too much letterspacing and, based on the “New Orleans” text in the upper ribbon, what looks like some horizontal scaling, but I want to think it’s the extended version of the typeface. Overall — and in contrast with some past All-Star logos, specifically The Chili Years from 1994 to 1996 — the New Orleans logo stands out nicely and, most beneficial for the city, proudly.

Thanks to Jason Smith for the tip.

BY Joe Marianek

Beckham Colonizes the Galaxy

The American Major League Soccer Club, Los Angeles Galaxy re-launched their brand last week in time for a new crew member, David Beckham. Originally of the British Football Club Manchester United, Beckham and wife Victoria will bring an atmosphere of skill and spice, respectively, to LA; and certainly a wider audience.

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