Yes, they just posted story, with a picture of he new flag with features the logo. I kinda like it, but that's just a first impression. Could be worse, there could be lots of happy faces like on the 2006 Germany WC logo. http://www.concacaf.com/view_article.asp?id=2530
Better than the old logo, but still average at best. Whatever happened to CONCACAF changing its name to Football Confederation (FC)? Did they just scrap that whole idea? They make a big announcement that "CONCACAF is now the Fooball Confederation" and then when they realized that everyone was still calling it CONCACAF, they just quietly give up on the whole FC thing. I think that when CONCACAF comes up with new ideas it's kind of like throwing wet noodles at a wall, some of them stick some don't (ref. The Giants Cup, Clubs Cup, etc).
The new logo kind of resembles a logo for a company who sells Orange Juice not repersentative for continental futbol. And yes, they really never made a huge deal about changing from the bizarre FC (I want to be the FA) back to CONCACAF. 3 logos in 3 years and the new one still crap, excellent CONCACAF stability at its best.
I will have to ask the Director of Graphics whether he did it, or Blazer did it...more than likely its the latter, but we'll see.
The problem is, it doesn't acheive the goal of telling people at a glance what you are, other than affiliated with football in some way. The AFC logo, in comparison, incorporates the Asian continent into its logo, incorporating it into a soccer polygonal panel design. In fact, the only confederations whose logos do not incorporate their continent into their logo are arguably the ones who least have their******** together, i.e. CONCACAF and OFC. Of course, a logo that drew attention to you based upn what you were supposed to be doing would only flow from a leadership that was in fact about concomitant and appropriate business...as the OFC has gotten rid of their old guard to a large extent, the jury is still out on them, but in CONCACAF's case, the jury is back and has rendered its verdict, as most of us here know.
It doesn't look that bad on the flag, I say. Maybe the background can be a darker shade of blue, or black. The block CONCACAF lettering looks sharp. But maybe I'm not going too much for the "spinning" effect of the swooshes. (Isn't there some shoe company that has a swoosh for a logo?) Didn't the Bundesliga have a similar logo a year or two ago? Yeah, the CONCACAF name could use a little upgrade, maybe something simpler like Football North America (without dissing the Central or Carribbean). The outline of North America is kind'a distinctive, but I'm not sure about incorporating a logo around it.
What's that squiggly piece on the bottom right? The trouble with having an outline of the continent on a logo, which by its very nature is meant to be small, is that other than Mexico, the US and Canada, the rest of the "continent" look too inconsequential...like the crumbs on a hamberger deluxe after Homer Simpson was finished with it. There are roughly 35 other nations, or associate nations in the Confederation. The shape of the confederation does not stand out like Europe, South America Asia and Africa. It is more akin to Oceania in terms of disparate land masses.
While I was at CONCACAF, I had developed a relationship with a company called Design Bridge. Heard of them? Probably not. But they were entirely responsible for this. They have a bit of a track record, I think. We talked a bit about the idea behind a visual identity, about how it's more than picking a logo and sticking it on everything, particularly at the level at which CONCACAF and UEFA operate. We talked about bringing CONCACAF on board as a client. Of course, eventually, even though I had laid the path for a highly reduced workrate (begging CONCACAF poverty, which is the only way to get Blazer to look at anything) from Design Bridge, the idea was ridiculed on its face...because Blazer, sadly, thinks he is a better judge of visual identities than those who are working, at the highest levels, in the field everyday... No really. Blazer spends his time NOT on developing the Champions and Gold Cups, but on crafting amateur charts and graphs for whacky proposals to FIFA on Visio. Really. CONCACAF's Secretariat is IN New York, surrounded by graphics design companies, and thus could have been using the expertise thay had in their Director of Graphics (who was from Calvin Klein) to put out bids to develop not JUST a logo that combines the best of Minute Maid Oranges and a soccer ball , but a visual identity, which is more than just a logo; its about not only the concomitant visual pieces, and how they integrate and penetrate across the multimedia spectrum, but also about doing some research as to what your targeted and general demographics are looking for. Its about a message that springs from a VISION. Whether or not the Director of Graphics, or Blazer, or someone else in one of the murky trade-outs that Balzer likes to do, executed this concept is less relevant than the points that, one, Blazer, alone approved of the logo, and two that the fact that the logo is out there with no accompanying strategy is a microcosm of how CONCACAF conducts business. No message. No vision. Ask yourself this as well: if you are an organization whose primary function is TO DO NOTHING, but to also be conversely seen as doing something, what kind of strategies do you employ? Maybe your approach includes doing just enough to be able to say "Hey, we've done something," but not enough to encourage anyone to begin to think about really moving forward and developing ideas to move the organization forward b/c, again, you're PRIMARY FUNCTION IS TO DO NOTHING... How might not only the logo "development," the regional soccer development by CONCACAF since 1990 in particular, but really since 1962, be illuminated by employing that overall outlook? And why, you may ask, would DOING NOTHING be beneficial? Because if you never try anything meaningful, you can never fail at anything meaningful. If you never fail at anything big, you, politically, can emphasize, and spin, the small, useless things you did. Its a WHOLLY POLITICAL environment at CONCACAF and FIFA. 100% pure politics, more than any other country's national politics in the region; even regular politicians can be voted out. Who controls the voting mechanisms for our soccer leadership? Other soccer people, looking for their OWN status-quo. So if everybody just stays still, and nobody rocks the boat, everybody stays on board, get me? You have a ship that going nowhere, but that doesn't matter to these folks; their position, given the POPULARITY, of the sport (i.e., given the amount of resources everyday people out into the soccer enterprise, regionally and globally...remember this is the result of YOUR money and time going into soccer), these guys, many of whom would be (and are, when there's no Congress) driving a bus if they were not in football, get power, influence, authority, prestige, and the money that comes from small-scale (although added up, huge) graft systems like GOAL and FAP and others) from being there...and NOT rocking the boat. This logo, its genesis, history, "development," and significance goes far beyond just the logo itself. Keep a look out for my upocoming book, going into this and much more, a couple of months after I digest the FIFA "Centennial," which is sure to provide many interesting, contrastible moments and quotes...
I don't think this new logo is so bad. It reminds me of a hurricane, which unfortunately, is a common occurrence to the countries in this confederation. Perhaps it is symbolic of CONCACAF's dream to "take Europe by storm" in 2006, as it were. While one CONCACAF team made the quarterfinals in 2002, it's too bad the U.S. and Mexico had to meet so soon in the knockout stage. Perhaps a better draw for the 3 or 4 teams from here in Germany will make for a successful World Cup showing.
Mel, I understand that you would like to see CONCACAF design a logo which visually represents CONCACAF. However, enlighten me as to how CONCACAF would be able to design a logo which incorporates their continent when 26 of the 35 member nations aren't geographically part of the continent? The same concept applies to OFC.
Had the US won their group instead of losing to Poland and backing into the knockout stage, the two teams would have potentially met in the semi-final.
Have you ever seen a shot of the world from space over the carribbean? An centering and emphasis of the lslands, with NA/CA sweeping away to the left and upwards, includes everyone; a dramatic, graphical representation of that CAN be done, trust me. I've had mock-ups on my desk while working at CONCACAF; problem is, almost everytime there was a decent mock-up of anything, there was a ********-up of everything!
I'm not sure that this new logo is all that bad or irrelevant. The spinning ball with the added graphics around it very much remind me of a hurricane, which works for two reasons -- the first (obviously) as symbolic of the recent series of storms that have swept throughout the region (and do so annually); the second, an ever-present reminder that (coming soon to a generation near you) soccer will, in fact, take the United States populus "by storm." Then again, I could be wrong (again).
This new logo is not bad at all lets hope they finally stick to this one... Its way better than that other crap they had.... Notice some thing else???? It says CONCACAF like this confederation has always been known as since day 1.... the TFC is gone... not that it ever was here to stay seeing how when IDIOT warner said hey every body we are now the TFC the world just paid him no mind and continue to call this region CONCACAF.... This warner is an idiot anb seeing how this clown continues to win elections due to his caribian vote.....Am I the only one that wishes a heart attack on him to FINALLY RIDS US OF THIS CREEP????? maybe I'm just to cruel and hence my bad rep..... Mr Warner please go out drinking tonight and get really drunk and then get into your BMW and drive really fast.......and go on a road where only you will get hurt and no one else.... Then we can finally elect some one of respect who can really make some thing of this region as far as North and central america goes....sorry I dont think the islands will ever be any thing more than some side show amatures. I NOMINATE ALAN ROTHENBERG!!!!!
Wow!! Such vitriolic hate for Warner... He must be a real Jack@ss... .. However your last line is quite telling... Sideshow Amateurs?? Really?? OK so obviously you don't see the benefits to Concacaf in developing these sideshow islanders to a competitive level... Obviously you do not know the history of football in these amateur nations!! Wow!! Such Myopia!!
What if the new design, like other Federations, have the continental design. Now others have mentioned that if the continent design was there, then C.A and Carrib. would be hard to tell. But if the design had 3 different designs on it. Instead of having the whole continent, have the continent divided by 3. On one N.A, (i.e. Can, US, Mex), on another C.A, and finally Carib. this way each design is magnified to be the same size as the others. I think this logo would resemble the Concacaf, becuase of its 3 distinct regions.