If the New England Revolution were to rename/change logo, what will it be?

Yep.

Dortumund's badge is sleek and minimalist. Vancouver Whitecaps FC's badge is sleek and minimalist. This badge is klunky. The most glaring issue with it is the text treatment. You should never, ever, stretch text around like that. It ruins the proportions is just generally looks awful. If you need to make text "swoosh" like that, you need to either take the time to hand-letter it or take the time to edit the scale of each letter individual. This person took the shortcut of selecting a bunch of inline text in Adobe Illustrator and going Effects -> Warp-> Rise, which is lazy. There's some less obvious stuff, also (look at the gray dimensions on the ribbon - do they make sense in regards to the perspective?), but I've already rambled too long about warping text, so I'll spare you.

I hope not, if this was the best concept.

Oh snap! Making it personal! I like it!

To quote Pete Townshend, "A little is a enough"


Wait... wait a minute...


Oh yeahhh...


Oh this is such a jam....

Nothing, I suppose, in that's it's very minimal.

Well, that lack of mangled fonts and nonsensical perspective is a start. Although my design actually has no perspective; I prefer flat soccer badges than those which make ill-advised attempts at dimensionality. It goes wrong more often than it goes right.

Market research for BigSoccer arguments! F**k yeah! I like the effort.

Unfortunately, these people's opinions have no value to me. The Spice Girls had the best-selling album of 1997. Is "Spice" better than "OK Computer", "Either/Or", "I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One", "Time Out of Mind", or "Being There"? (note: I am NOT trying to compare my logo to OK Computer in terms of quality, hahaha) Many people around my office routinely make horrible design decisions, almost on par with music-purchasing decisions made by the masses in 1997. I don't hold it against them (usually), since it's not their area of expertise. Ask Steven Heller what he thinks of these designs and that would mean something to me.

Also, in reference to the "to soccer ball or not to soccer ball" discussion from above, I think the problem is not the existence of the soccer ball, but that it is essentially the dominant graphic element. Great examples were given of badges that feature soccer balls in them, but in the most successful of these, the soccer balls were a more minor element. For example, Chelsea's new logo functions better than say, CSKA Moscow.

In summation, I like idea of a more shield-y Revs logo, I just feel that the logo you posted has some design flaws that annoy me.

(Calling it "horrendous" may have been harsh, but come on, someone's gotta get this debate going! I know our current logo is sickeningly bad, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't still be disappointed if I woke up in a bizarre alternate universe where the Walls design replaced it. It's more in the right direction, but it lacks polish.)

 

While Mr. Walls clearly took longer than 15 minutes to design his logo, and employed far more "design sense", training, and talent than you seem to be inclined to give him credit for, it should be pointed out that creating the logo in question wasn't a project he undertook for a paying customer. He engaged in creating the mark as a simple exercise in his spare-time... nothing more strenuous than that. In fact, when the logo was brought to my attention, it was noted that it wasn't a finished product. I'm certain that he was well aware of the issues with the text treatment and the perspective on the ribbon, just as I'm certain - having seen examples of his finished work for clients - that those details would have been addressed in a project professionally undertaken.

Truth be told, I have no idea how many stages of design and redesign this logo went through. More to the point, neither do you. That said, your implication was that this design - in your opinion - was so lacking as to have struck you as being a rushed, amateurish effort. In point of fact, while not perfect, it is clearly the work of someone who is a trained graphic designer and - though not living-up to your exacting standards - was the preference of six professionals in the fields of marketing, branding, and graphic design that I happened to be working on a project with this afternoon.

Not at all. I was simply inquiring as to what logo you believe exceeds Mr. Walls' in quality and execution.

Well, to quote the creative professionals I showed your logo to this afternoon, your design offered far too "little" in the way of layout, creativity, and execution, resulting in a mark that was not nearly good "enough" to surpass Mr. walls' effort.

As opposed to your offering's abundance of creativity?

I'll continue our give-and-take after I've finished the conference-call I have to participate in. I'm rather enjoying it.

 

I thought I liked you. Then you say this shit. Spice Girls are the shit

 

I like the colonial text better then no text at all

 

anyone like these kits for with Mr.Walls design?(ignore the badge on the kits)

 

away and 3rd, if we get one

 

Okay, so there's less pressure to create a great logo. There's also no terrible suggestions from clients that need to be adhered to. Spare-time stuff often looks better than paid stuff because of that. See: http://clientsfromhell.net/

But it wasn't presented that way. The tone of your initial post suggested that this badge would be a suitable replacement in it's current state. People seemed to agree with this sentiment which made me all "Noooooooooooo, brooooooooooooo". If you had said, "The Revs need a badge that actually functions as a soccer badge. This one is unfinished, but you can sense how much better it would be than current one once that text is improved, the nonsensical perspective is fixed, and maybe the soccer ball is replaced with a pine tree/Meeting House/revolution-era naval vessel/Old North Church/six stars/etc," then I'd have been all "Yeahhhhhhhhhh, probsssssssssss".

Well, I'm glad I don't work with them, then, because if they prefer the other design, I imagine we'd clash on a lot.

Uh, I was actually referring to my own design there. Since our current logo is made up of 3452654762474 floating shapes, I wanted to keep it really simple. Get more minimal. Sort of a visual palette cleanser. Logo sorbet.

Sorry, I was going to say 1995 Hootie and the Blowfish, but I preferred 1997's counter-examples, so it was time to slander the Lady Beckham Brigade.

 

I'd prefer a logo with stars over it.

 

I hate to break it to you but there already is an NEFC. http://www.nefc.us/

 

I nominate DB53 for poster of the year

 

lol are you suggesting that they couldn't wrangle away that name from a youth club, for a professional team?

I would probably take more issue with the facts that:
a) those uniforms are hideous
b) they are nike
c) the logo is even worse than the current crayolanightmare

 

I said ignore the badge, and creds to this page for kits, they did a whole rebrand of the mls:
http://boards.sportslogos.net/topic/87771-mls-by-mcrosby-and-capitalcanuck/page-3

 

Given that you have no idea who the people are, that's a bit short-sighted.

I'd give my eye-teeth to pick Mr. Heller's brain on the subjects of graphic design and branding. Unfortunately, he wasn't available to me as he's not a contributor on the project I'm collaborating on. I had to make due with drawing upon the combined wisdom of a partner and a senior designer from a leading branding and graphic design firm, the executive creative director and the art director from a top advertising agency, the director of brand strategy for a major charitable entity, and the creative director for the client we're all working with. I'd be shocked if Mr. Heller weren't familiar with the work of - if not on a first-name basis with - at least half of the people I met with yesterday.

Frankly, my two partners and I felt more than a bit out of our depth.

Any "design flaws" in the logo that you offered up, or is it - in your estimation - blemish-free?

Your hyperbole in the service of promoting "debate" is duly noted.

The sort of "polish" that your contribution possesses?

 

Oh, so you chose to go off of my "tone"? As opposed to reading a statement where I actually said that Mr. Walls' logo "would be a suitable replacement in it's current state"? Well, in fairness, you'd have to go off of - indeed, read into - my "tone", as it would be impossible for you to read a statement I didn't make.

Yeah... I wouldn't have been likely to say all of that. You know, given the fact that I don't believe Mr. Walls' logo would necessarily be improved by the addition of "a pine tree/Meeting House/revolution-era naval vessel/Old North Church". As for "six stars", they're already there... in the stylized soccer ball. Improvements to the text and an adjustment of the perspective? Sure, I can see work being done in those areas.

I'm going try to put this as kindly as I can. If the logo you contributed to this thread is - even in the preliminary stages - an example of your work and overall design aesthetic, then based upon the reaction that the creative professionals I showed it to had to said mark, I don't think you have to worry about working with them.

"[K]eep it really simple. Get more minimal." Yet, you'd have been all, "Yeahhhhhhhhhh, probsssssssssss" if I'd advocated for replacing the simple, minimalist, stylized soccer ball on Mr. Walls' logo with a depiction of the Meeting House, a revolution-era naval vessel, or the Old North Church? I suppose any of those items could be rendered in a more minimalist style, but it still seems to me that they'd come across as more obtrusive than the stylized soccer ball.

 

In any event, enough of the tit-for-tat debate. On to some of the actual comments from the creative professionals that I showed Mr. Walls' and SoccerSpecificSentra's logos to yesterday.

* All six of the people (four males, two females) that I shared the logos with felt that "neither of the marks is a finished product", agreeing that "both need work".

* When pressed on what and/or how much work needed to be done, their responses ran the gamut from the cemagraphics logo requiring "tweaks" to help with "kerning and tracking issues" in the typeface to SoccerSpecificSentra's logo needing to be "blown up and started over" due to its "rudimentary layout" and "questionable compositional choices".

* The cemagraphics-designed mark struck them as being the "more polished" of the two offerings. They conceded that this could be due to any number of factors, including how far along in the design process the two logos respectively were, as well was how much actual design training and experience each logo's designer possessed.

*

 

Finally, a comparison of the two logos from the senior designer at the branding and graphic design firm.

"This mark (indicating the cemagraphics logo) is much more visually pleasing. Simple design elements - the slight curvature of the stripes in the lower half of the shield, the flow of the banner, the graceful sweep to the lines of the overall containment shape - impart a sense of movement and energy to the mark. And I think that movement and energy are important traits for the visual branding of a sports franchise - particularly, a soccer team - to communicate. When I think of soccer, I think of 'the beautiful game' - grace, speed, and near-constant movement. The players moving around the field. The ball moving between the players. The movement of the fans in the stands. Banners being waved. So, I think the fact that this mark has some flow to its lines... suggests movement... is really fitting. I like that this mark maintains a thematic tie to the old mark (I showed the group the current Revolution logo) without beating us over the head with the flag imagery. Yes, there are stripes. Yes, there are stars. Yes, the palette is red, white, and blue. Yes, we're maintaining the Revolution brand, but we don't have to show you a full-on depiction of a flag to do it.

"This mark (indicating SoccerSpecificSentra's offering) has none of that sense of movement, and energy, and grace. It's primarily straight lines and right angles. Very boxy. Very flat. Very staid in its presentation. The composition is lacking. The pine tree and numerical elements are just plunked down in their respective spaces. The palette contributes to a sense of heaviness here."

 

Dang, you went all out

 

No big deal. I was simply killing time on BigSoccer while waiting to meet with a client yesterday afternoon. Given that some of the other people scheduled to meet with said client were branding and design professionals, I availed myself of their opinions on the relative merits of the logos designed by cemagraphics and SoccerSpecificSentra. I figured I'd share their thoughts..

 

That's cool. I usually don't reference things I think are horrible. Maybe you are into that sort of thing.

 

Well maybe I dont think they are horrible

 

Well, that explains a lot then

 

This what the Revs logo would look like in Lego Land.

 

Anyone got any idea's for another name other than Revolution? I like it, but we need to come up with other name options before we talk about badges.

 

This was my favorite redesign that I've come across:




http://www.reddit.com/r/MLS/comments/1clxh9/zurangatangs_mls_redesign_new_england_revolution/

The larger version of the badge is the updated one that the designer released after some feedback. Just imagine that on the kits from the first image.

It's not a perfect redesign, but it's my favorite and could probably be tweaked easily to become "usable," for lack of a better term.

 

Not a fan of the font on the badge, and the home kit could use some work