All about the new NFL Logo
The National Football League (NFL) has recently decided to launch a makeover of its red, white and blue “NFL Shield” logo, as announced by Lisa Baird, the NFL’s senior vice president of marketing.
The current design of the NFL logo dates back to the 1940s, and has had no change since the last two decades. The logo consisted of twenty five stars, and carried an overall soft image.
The redesigned shield, however, will be slightly taller and thinner, displaying darker colors than the previous logo. The latest version of the NFL logo shows a new crisper football, resembling the one on the Vince Lombardi championship trophy.
The most significant change in the NFL logo will be seen in the number of stars. There will be only 8 stars in the new version of the NFL logo, representing the eight divisions or sub conferences of the league. Due to the reduction in the number of stars, NFL vendors (Reebok, Riddell, Wilson, EA Sports and etc) must be really content with this new change, as they were facing trouble indenting so many stars onto trophies. They also had to shoehorn the same onto everything from player jerseys to fan T-shirts and hats, uniforms and licensed merchandise. This makeover of the logo is the first such attempt to the shield since 1980.
Currently, the NFL and design and branding experts and critics are waiting to see how football fans react to the change in the NFL logo, after all not every change is a good change and it takes a while to accept what’s new. Though, from a designer’s perspective, the transformation in the NFL logo is a marked improvement from the previous version. The sharper font, darker colors and the use of fewer elements in the shield, makes the NFL logo look bolder and distinguished.
About NFL: The National Football League (NFL) is the largest and most celebrated professional American football league. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association and was named NFL in 1922. The league presently comprises of thirty-two teams from all over America, divided evenly into two conferences - the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC).
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September 14th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Hmmm…not a football fan, but I’m not really into the new design. Couple of tension points that I think the new design has that are grating.
First the stars at both tips of the football. They just about touch. Either overlap or give more space. And in the original, the type seemed more in line with the style of the logo. The new version, with block serifs, just doesn’t mesh.
I do like the higher-contrast colors though.
September 19th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Truthfully the logo looks Web2.0. How it will translate into a flat mono colour is where the real proof of its effectiveness will be. Fewer stars is a good idea. I agree with Nate that the font, being blocky and hard-edged doesn’t flow nicely with the curves of the shield itself.
That said, does anyone, other than the NFL head office really care about the logo? What difference will it make to football fans?
September 20th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
The average fan doesn’t care.
However a football bat should be incorporated into the image.
September 24th, 2007 at 9:36 am
What is the font that they’re using in the logo?
September 25th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Terrible. What ever happened to leaving well enough alone? The font detracts from the heritage and history of the game. This looks like a “modernized” or “robotized” version of a timeless logo. In an era where teams are going back to their roots regarding uniforms and colors, why must the NFL try and make things easier? Sometimes easier (for printing and embossing) is not better. Stick with the old school design.
September 27th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
While it doesn’t really matter, I think the old logo is overall more appealing. I don’t like the change in shade from one end to the other, and the angle of the football. I also think it is, as previously stated, too “Web 2.0″.
But really, I just want to see football so it doesn’t matter.
GO PATS!
September 28th, 2007 at 5:44 am
old logo is more simple and has better look
December 5th, 2007 at 5:45 am
I like the new logo and think it could work.