Logo reaction thread

Discussion in 'Portland Timbers' started by pc4th, Jun 12, 2010.

  1. BacteriaEP

    BacteriaEP New Member

    Apr 13, 2009
    Portland
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well then the FO f**ked up. To not have consulted their one and only supporters group was an egregious mistake.

    I still don't think it's as bad as some are making it out to be, and judging by the Columbus Blue Jackets logo, I'd say we actually got off lucky.

    So what are the next steps for the TA? Any plans to try and get the crest changed?
     
  2. BacteriaEP

    BacteriaEP New Member

    Apr 13, 2009
    Portland
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well, when you're right, you're right... the classic Timbers crest just fits in so well with the timeless crests around the world. While I still don't think the new crest looks as cartoony as you're making it out to be, it absolutely doesn't stand up as a great football crest.

    I rescind my "I like it" vote.
     
  3. OleGunnar20

    OleGunnar20 Member+

    Dec 7, 2009
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    the real surprise. the union may suck on the pitch so far, but they got the crest perfect.

    i can see why some say the whitecaps went a little to "bland" or "corporate" it doesn't quite fit in, but it isn't entirely out of place.

    until you see the two timbers logos in the context of other football crests you really cannot see just how off the new one is and just how much, with a few minor tweakings (like what happened with the Juventus crest), a new crest largely like the old Timbers logo could have stood shoulder to shoulder with some of the world's greatest football brands.
     
  4. A Hugh Jass

    A Hugh Jass Member

    Nov 15, 2009
    Myrtle Beach
    Club:
    Fulham FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    yall should really think about a boycott of all things with the new crest. like get timbers army to go along with it kinda like manchester united supporters are doing boycotting the glazers. only wear old crest gear.
     
  5. Sport Billy

    Sport Billy Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 25, 2006
    I count 3. ;)
     
  6. 67 soccer

    67 soccer New Member

    Jun 13, 2010
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    the new logo is f##king trash bring back one of the best looking logos in north america . when is mls going to figure out that cartoon looking logos is not what soccer supporters want. ta/fo need to start talking asap bring back our history.
     
  7. OleGunnar20

    OleGunnar20 Member+

    Dec 7, 2009
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    doesn't fit with timeless and iconic football crests but it sure does seem to fit here ...

    [​IMG]

    somebody remind me whatever happened to the Wiz, Burn, Clash, Mutiny, and Fusion?
     
  8. Darth Vegas

    Darth Vegas New Member

    Jul 21, 2009
    Columbia City
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    If this came from out of nowhere, it would be an ok design, but it is replacing one of the iconic logos of US soccer and does not live up to it. So far Union still has the best in the league.

    I see the new lasting for 2 or 3 three years, with the old logo seeping in during that time then completly replacing it when its time for a new kit. Just like the last time they tried to change to logo.

    BTW in an informal survey of u12 soccer kids and their parents who were shown it, all of them liked it... so maybe we are not the crowd they are after.
     
  9. gstommylee

    gstommylee Member+

    Oct 3, 2008
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    KC Wiz became the KC wizard i think some group were not happy that the team was called Wiz. Dallas Burn became FC dallas. San Jose Clash Became San Jose Earthquakes Mutiny and Funsion folded over ownership issues.
     
  10. OleGunnar20

    OleGunnar20 Member+

    Dec 7, 2009
    Club:
    Manchester United FC

    thank you but i was trying to be sarcastic. i guess i should have put a smiley. the point is Merritt is 15 years too late if he wanted a MLS 1.0 team. the league tried the whole pander to non soccer fans thing, didn't really work out ... thus the new direction of the league.

    but the Wiz and Burn still crack me up. somewhere there is a design sheet for the original MLS with all of the logos and some "characters" for some teams. the galaxy had a "character" that looked like Mr. Hankey from South Park. a galaxy turd with some whirlwind around it. the clash had some weird cartoon scorpion that looked like that transformer in the original movie that attacked everybody in the desert. those were the days.
     
  11. DCYC

    DCYC Member

    Chivas, DC United, Reno 1868
    Mar 24, 2010
    Reno, NV
    Club:
    CD Chivas de Guadalajara
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    wow.... it's horrible. I think they screwed one of the best soccer logos in the US
     
  12. NYFC

    NYFC Member

    Jul 30, 2006
    Brooklyn
    I'd say 2 of them don't belong. Both new teams crests are horrible.
     
  13. BHTC Mike

    BHTC Mike Member+

    Apr 12, 2006
    Burlington, ON
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    Yeah, the lame new Portland one and the Rangers one!

    (I'm sure everyone could play this game for every other crest as well mind you.)
     
  14. TimberBeav

    TimberBeav New Member

    Jun 13, 2010
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    The new logo is poor graphic design and a poor representation of the Timbers but I doubt its changed.


    I always liked this one -

    [​IMG]

    Except 1. fix the bottom of the ax and 2. change the star like shapes in the middle to a rose silhouette (still in the same shade of green)

    Of course with the new logo its clear they are trying to focus on the green, not yellow so perhaps the colors could be flipped too.
     
  15. TimberBeav

    TimberBeav New Member

    Jun 13, 2010
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    to me this points out how well the Union got it right. Congrats to Philly, best crest in the league

    Edit: quoted wrong picture, meant the one which included Philly
     
  16. Cade

    Cade Member

    Jul 7, 2008
    I'm really disappointed and think the FO are going to ********ing up something special by doing this... The original wasn't perfect but they completely overhauled it and made it look like shite.

    I planned on purchasing a jersey at the least when released but not now, would writing an email to FO do any good? I think they've undermined what PT meant to some not just in PDX but U.S. Soccer supporters in general.. are TA trying to talk sense into them?

    bummer :(
     
  17. globetrot

    globetrot New Member

    Nov 25, 2009
    For the record, I definitely like the old one better. If it is as big a deal as it seems from reading here, what if the TA has their own scarves made with the old logo on it... just as a peaceful protest. It shows how much the old one means, how irritated everyone is they were left out of the process and, if that isn't enough, would put a small dent in the club's revenues... That last one almost always raises the eyebrows of businessmen ;)
     
  18. TimberBeav

    TimberBeav New Member

    Jun 13, 2010
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    http://www.portlandmls2011.com/2010/06/timbers-introduce-new-mls-crest/

    From that and the videos its really disappointing how they skew "keeping the history" with how the logo turned out. Like many other have said, just taking the elements of the previous logo and tossing them together doesn't do justice to the team's heritage.

    At one point during the video it refers to the ax as representing "precision" and "exactness." I know its foolish to try and explain this new logo but that cartoony ax is not precise at all - it has yellow shadow things and cartoony edges.

    Again, a massive failure as the chevrons now just look like a triangle and have lost all graphic representation of the trees.

    But see, its not a circle when you break through the edges. Do they mean to represent that PTFC is farther from perfection? Because I agree.

    For those of you who think its just a "logo," this puts it well. The crest represents this connection and it should be something prideful, especially when you have something so great to start with.

    So I guess they did use focus groups but RARE apparently didn't listen

    Looks like if there is even a small chance to change or alter the logo it must happen before the Fall when the full product line is revealed.

    This must have been awkward to write for the FO

    To me the logo is very saddening. PTFC had a chance to be the class of the league when they entered - no ghosts of poor marketing from the 1990s and early 2000s, no ill-researched soccer specific stadium in the suburbs, a solid supporters group and no kiddy logo and name. Oh well, at least Portland has a team.
     
  19. Old Man!

    Old Man! BigSoccer Supporter

    RIP Chicago Fire
    Mar 11, 2000
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Like has been stated, had this been an expansion team with no history, then fine. Still a lackluster logo, but fine. Since, however, the Timbers had a long history and a proud logo, to alter it to this extent is a travesty for Portland fans. I feel sorry for the TA who surely deserved better.
     
  20. blackedoutfriction

    Jan 10, 2009
    Portland
    If they used focus groups in Portland I'd be shocked. They didn't run this by anyone that I'm aware of and nobody I know knows anyone they ran this by. If nobody I know saw it I'm fairly certain if they ran it by anyone in Portland it was soccer moms in Beaverton. Not exactly the market.
     
  21. Brian in Boston

    Brian in Boston Member+

    Jun 17, 2004
    MA & CA, USA
    RARE Design "screwed the pooch" with their so-called tweaks and updates to the Portland Timbers' iconic, traditional badge/logo. Plain and simple. The fact that Timbers' ownership/management actually signed-off on the resulting piece of garbage makes them complicit in the failure.

    * The line-weights used to render the axe in the new logo, the thickness of the axe's handle, and the fact that one can now see the actual endpoint of the axe handle, all combine to give said instrument the appearance of a shorter, beefier hatchet. A hatchet has never been the central icon of the Timbers' logo.

    * For all of the talk of imbuing the chevrons in the logo with meaning, they're now so obscured by other design elements as to be non-existent. Between the axe being thicker and the wordmark being ham-handedly slapped over the bottom third of the logo, I challenge anyone to truly make-out the so-called chevrons. Chevrons? No. An obscured, strangely-truncated triangle/delta shape with four random diagonal lines in it? Sure. Whatever the hell the latter is supposed to stand for, I don't know. The inverted Vs of the old logo were a nod to Mt. Hood and the evergreen trees of the Pacific Northwest. The new "chevrons"? Who can even see them?

    * In the old logo, equal weight was given to both the host city and the name of the club. In the new logo, "TIMBERS" has been reduced in importance. Which, given the fact that any design element remotely resembling a tree has been skewed and obscured beyond recognition, is a major mistake.

    The new logo is, simply put, a design failure.

    What makes this even more frustrating is that there are many people who piss and moan about the lack of true "tradition" in American soccer. Well, in point of fact, this country's pro soccer scene has traditions. A classic example of American soccer tradition is the history of the various Portland Timbers sides and the iconic "axe-and-tree" mark that has represented said sides for the better part of their existence. Rather than simply embracing said tradition and carrying it forward into the MLS era, Merritt Paulson, Timbers' management and RARE Design chose to abandon it. Carrying the Timbers' original crest forward would have further strengthened one of the truly traditional elements of American soccer's history. Instead, a conscious choice was made to f**k with the Timbers' historic badge - and a piece of genuine American soccer tradition was tossed on the ash-heap.
     
  22. Asprilla9

    Asprilla9 Member

    Dec 15, 2000
    Beaverton, OR
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think the thing that makes it look so dumb is that: AXE + CARTOON .. does not equal good. We had a friggin AXE on our crest. So unique in US sports. Unique in world soccer as well. Turning in a 'cartoon' version of our axe just looks beyond stupid.


    The cartoon-y logos actually do work for some of the US pro teams in other sports. But when you have something as dark, dangerous and threatening as an axe on your crest, turning it into a cartoon version completely neuters what made it cool in the first place.


    I too agree with sentiments that the Timbers FO will likely bring the old crest back slowly in a couple of years. But I think it'd be a strong message to send from Paulson to discard it right now, and bring a new, more traditional updated logo in. But he won't -- he's too proud. And it's probably too late anyway.


    I know why they did this: the execs figured, "Why do anything to appease the TA folks (20-40 somethings), they're already buying in. And they'll continue to buy our tickets, scarves and beer no matter what the new logo looks like. But if we put out a new cartoony logo aimed at a different demographic, we might reach some new people." Not a terrible plan, but it's kind of disrespectful to your key fan base (i.e. the reason your in the MLS in the first place).
     
  23. leftcoastkicks

    Aug 20, 2009
    Vancouver, BC
    Club:
    Vancouver Whitecaps
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    [​IMG] ;):p
     
  24. antnee7898

    antnee7898 Member

    Oct 19, 2007
    South Houston, TX
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The ax looks like Links new weapon in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker 2
     
  25. milesfoxx2005

    milesfoxx2005 Member

    Nov 8, 2006
    The Netherzone!!!!!
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Nigeria
    I'm not sure if any/many of you have noticed but several of Rare Design's images were intended for...well...this...
    http://wfbl5.blogspot.com/2009/08/wfblwtf_31.html

    Yeah, that's the organization I want to do my professional, largescale work...err.
     

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