Thanks a lot for the positive feedback! It's good to see that the great work by our design firm and the amount of thought put into the new logo by the entire Blues staff are being acknowledged by fans around the league
Well, it is an upgrade. Looks cartoonish. More like from a video game. Reminds me of Top Gun. Tweaks should be done. Overall, it is a plus from before.
personally i'd say the Richmond and Harrisburg logos are terrible, altho Harrisburg's is kindof humorous at least. idk how the Richmond logo has lasted this long without an upgrade. and i'd say the Orlando logo is pretty awful too, altho i guess the Orlando folx like it. Rochester's isn't too great either. Pittsburgh's isn't so bad now that i look at it again. don't really like the new Blues logo either, i agree it looks like something from a video game, altho (almost) anything would be an improvement over the old one...
Very encouraging that everyone seems to agree it's an upgrade. Again, it's impossible to make everyone equally happy, so the goal was to create something that the majority of our fans could identify with. Overall, we're very excited about the response we've gotten. Of the 30 people who voted in our facebook poll, 21 gave it an "A" and 3 gave it a "B," so we're hoping that the sample, small as though it may be, is reflective of how our fan base feels about the new logo
lol harsh, but hey we all have our likes. I like the battery the best Barracudas and hammerheads are similar, they are good IMO then LA and Rhinos are good. The others could use some work.
As a City Islander fan and season ticket holder, I gotta say, Harrisburg's logo is the worst. It's a shame too, because they often have very nice jerseys. I think a lot of the cartoonish logos are bad, such as the Rhino and Riverhound, but I'm pretty traditional. I agree with ceezmad, the Battery's crest is my favorite. The wing in Charlotte's crest is weird and including stars at the top of Dayton's logo is the only way the Dutch Lions are gonna get one, because that franchise is not likely to win anything any time soon.
It seems that there are frequently misunderstandings about the logos of North American teams with a European background/ownership. The Dutch Lions' crest is a prime example, as it would be considered a decent soccer logo in Europe, where the designs tend to be very different due to the fact that they originated around the same time the respective clubs were founded (i.e. in many cases a century or longer ago). Even new logos in Europe tend to reflect that style, which is taken to represent history and tradition. It's interesting that the reaction iin North America to a crest like the Dutch Lions' is so different.
Interesting point about the City Islanders, as they really do tend to have very nice jerseys. Do you have any idea how they are about communicating with their fans? Might they be open to a dialog about the logo?
The club itself is terrific in fan relations and customer service. They are a very small organization, but everyone associated with the City Islanders is very eager to build their community. They are open to some suggestions, I spoke to one of their interns about wanting some long-sleeve merchandise, he agreed, and started a dialog with their merchandising rep. But in terms of changing the logo, I don't know how receptive they would be. The team created a whole "tropical island" image for the club because their stadium is literally on an island in the middle of the Susquehanna River. City Island hosts a minor league baseball stadium, a park, parking lots, and the soccer complex. Much of the game day experience utilizes the island theme, from their mascot, Tiki mon, to their party deck, from the tie-dyed t-shirts to reggae theme song. It costs a good amount of money to hire a PR firm to rebrand your image, so they might feel like the City Islanders are an established entity and not worth the cost of changing things too much. I don't see why they couldn't retain the name and image and just professionalize it, but it might just come down to the bottom line. If I had any graphic design talents, I would offer to help. Likewise, they really need to redesign their website, it's pretty awful, but I think their money is better spent elsewhere for now, especially if they're trying to renovate the stadium.
First of all, hats off to you for being not just an extremely passionate fan but also quite knowledgeable about the issues that figure into a question like this. It seems like the direction the Harrisburg City Islanders decided to take with their branding makes sense for them, and it's good to hear that they're open to communicating with their fans. Perhaps they would consider a logo upgrade if more people were to make their voices heard?
I saw you guys were testing merch options on facebook? Any plans or news of where they can be purchased? Have family in the Fullerton area and want to pick up some shirts for me when they visit in the summer.