Just in time for the NBA draft, the Philadelphia 76ers have recently changed their logo by reverting back to the original design that they had during their glory days of the late 70s and early 1980s.

Their marketing department must feel that the old design is a symbol of luck and it was time to rid themselves of their current curse, much like the Detroit Lions did earlier in the year. The Lions modernized and modified their existing logo in hopes of changing their image from consistent basement dwellers to winning NFL franchise.

It seems to be a trend with sports teams to wash away the bad luck demons and start fresh with a new logo. It makes sense if you believe that a team logo is a lucky charm. If this is true, wouldn’t a team mascot be just as responsible for delivering bad luck to a team? If you change one, shouldn’t  you change the other as well?

Changing a team’s logo will sometimes subvert the never ending cycle of a losing sports team. A bad season leads to poor ticket sales, low merchandise revenue, and a general lack of funds. What does a sports team need money for? Better Players! How does a team raise money to field a winner? By Repackaging and reselling all new jerseys, hats, apparel, and assorted gear, a sports franchise rebrands itself into a winner, and in turn collects the necessary money needed to sign highly valued free agents.

A team should be responsible for their own luck. If they can’t win a championship, don’t blame the logo, just play better!
-Nora Reed

Meet Ida!

“Ida,” is the little fossil that was recently found in Germany and is considered to be the “missing link.” The fossil is a huge find for those who study human origins. Paleontologist, Jorn Hurum, is responsible for leading the team and analyzed the 47-million-year-old fossil. He suggests Ida is a critical missing-link species in primate evolution. His studies show that the Ida fossil bridges the evolutionary split between higher primates such as monkeys, apes, and humans and their more distant relatives such as lemurs.

Ida, properly known as Darwinius masillae, has a very unique anatomy. The skeleton is mostly like a lemur, but features primate-like characteristics such as grasping hands, opposable thumbs, clawless digits with nails, and short limbs. After the announcement was made about the fossil’s discovery, it seems Google took advantage, using the fossil’s image for today’s Google logo.

Google has always been great with keeping up with current events and displaying what is going on through their logo art. It’s nice to see that they continue to do so by proudly including Ida in their design.
-Nora Reed

Design contests seem to occur frequently throughout the online graphic design community. We’ve had plenty of contests in the past even here. It seems now, the latest contest is sponsored by Google, in which they are offering the opportunity for kids to design a new twist on their ever changing logo. This is Google’s yearly event, which includes a theme. This year, the contest’s theme is “What I wish for the world.” The winner’s design will be posted on Google’s site for one day. Along with that honor, Google is also offering a monetary grant and scholarship as their top prize. The contest is called “Doodle 4 Google.” I have to admit, it’s quite a catchy name. The contest seems to be a great way to involve kids and to share a future graphic designer with the world. A group of artist’s renditions have already been picked, but now it is up to us to vote for the best ones to see which design makes its winning debut.

It really is a fantastic opportunity and it’s nice to see Google using a small portion of its long running financial gain to support art and education. The concept of the global awareness also is good for kids to learn if they didn’t know it already. The theme itself forces them to think about how our world is “going green” and what the actual ideas are behind that. Kids may hear the expression and just think of it as a trend, but it’s important for them to know how the idea came about and what to do to improve our global situation.
-Nora Reed

I found this yesterday and if you haven’t already seen it, I thought it was worth sharing. Images can often be deceiving. Just like how kids lay on the grass on summer days and imagine shapes out of cloud formations. Well with video games and ipods, I don’t know if they do that anymore, but the point is that if you use your imagination, your mind can manipulate anything. The new discovery is the Chicago Bull’s logo and how if you flip it upside down, it doesn’t look like a bull anymore. The general consensus is that it looks like a robot sitting on a bench and reading a bible. Was this intentional? The similarities are too extreme for it not to be. It may be no Johnny 5 or Optimus Prime, but it certainly does resemble a frowning metal creature. Check it out.

Possibly an R2D2 reference with a little more of a sad expression? Why a bible? Could it be a dictionary?

-Nora Reed

The Detroit Lions are the laughing stock of the NFL. They can’t seem to win a game or do anything right for their team, even going a pathetic 0-16 during the 2008 season. They can’t even keep their new logo design secret! It had been rumored that in order to gain some hype for themselves, the lions had plans in the works to change their logo design. Well, the secret was out when photos were leaked to the internet, showing their new design plans. They had been deciding on a new logo to represent them and give them a new image. The new design has now been revealed and there is not much of a difference from the old one.

The design changes are minimal. Rather than sticking with the blue lion silhouette, designers for the logo attempted a fiercer look for the lion, by adding accents within the silhouette to give it detail and personality. The lion now has visible teeth and a flowing mane so that it looks like it’s charging forward and the wind is blowing its hair. The meaner lion may also help strip the old lion of its infamous name “Bubbles.” Obviously, the old design did not strike fear in the team’s opponents.
The font of the “lion’s” lettering has changed as well. It went from an older, blocky, almost circus like style to a sleek, wavy text. The lettering change is a definite improvement. It gives the overall design a more modern look as opposed to the out dated style it had before.
Whether or not the new logo will have a psychological impact on the players is hard to say. At least it will no longer make them appear defeated. An image can have a major effect on a team. Perhaps it will influence the players to put their game face on and maybe win or game or two. If we start seeing some wins from the newly renovated Detroit Lions, we can guess why.
- Nora Reed