Ohio State Devises a New Athletic Logo. And It's Bad.
We'll find out more about who's responsible for this, but it's getting to the point where we can't even trust Gene Smith with a simple athletic logo.
Whether it's the new University of California system logo, or this clunky thing, rebranding is determined to fix everything that's not broken.
Comments
This has gotta go, it's embarrassing.... I'd like to know what was going through their heads when they looked at this monstrosity and thought "yeah, that'll be a good representation of our multi-million business/internationally recognized brand"
What the hell?
That's all I got. What. The. Hell.
i call this a turd. one, is it just me or is the first big bold black letter "o" geometrically deformed? also, the black lettering is SO bold it actually hurts my eyes to read. this is bad. i smell a turd
That is sooo boring. Reminds me of the M from the team up north. No class to it at all.
Either it goes or Gene should go.
So is this official? Like going to be on our apparelf for the next few years?
This has to be a joke. All they did was fill in the white of the letters. Look for yourself:
I fail to see why this needed to be replaced....
I second that
The original with the white in the letters looks significantly better than the all black one in my opinion. Time to light the torches and get out the pitchforks...
awww, i can see again. thanks, sirclovis. much better
Do you mean "bad" as in "bad," or "bad" as in "good?" I failed to see the "new" part in the new logo. Now I get it.
Not exactly taking a lot of risks there, are they?
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
First off, EASY (or is that E-Z-E?) fellas/gals.
You're not taking into account all the 'new' sizes/uses for logos, and the biggest culprit is probably right in your pocket. Yup, thats right, your cellphone.
I work for the NFL, and we're currently encountering the beast that is, and will only continue to be mobile. The web isn't what it used to be, and with that, logos are going to need to look good at smaller and smaller sizes, and your phone? It's the reason for this change.
Yes, I like the white lines inside the old logo, but to be honest, when this gets shrunk to teeny, tiny mobile-friendly sizes its going to muck it up. So, in my professional opinion, Loose it.
Simple is good y'all. Just relax, as this is only a minor, minor change. we're talking about a few lines here.
And its for the good of the brand going forward.
Or just blame your phones...
The old logo looks fine on my now below average sized iPhone 4S screen....
Your professional NFL opinion is to 'loose' the white lines because of outdated cell phone screens?
OK.
Taquitos.
I agree that it's not that big of a change. IMHO, that's part of the problem.
I actually like Gametime's examples much better, with the lettering in gray.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
I mean, if that's the case and it's all about making logos that won't look too busy on small screens, then just go simple and use a plain old Block 'O' or the buckeye leaf logo you see the cheerleaders wear sometimes.
Ugh ... ugly is ugly. I'm also a designer that works on logos for GM (Cadillac, Chevy, GMC) and yes the mobile world may casue some simplification of logos ... but bad design is just bad design. "loosing" these few lines has created an imbalance. Look at the negative spaces in regards to the edges of the O. And allowing a few letters to touch on the right while not on the left has created a bad design. By filling in these lines they should have compensated for the weight variences that would come along with it.
I'm all for creating simpified logos for small scale replication or display. The wreath and crest logo for Cadillac doesn't always work when shrunk so we've created simplified versions ... not just filled in the crest with a solid color. bad design is bad design.
This ... is bad design.
(Im sitting here still with a PDF on my screen of the SB style guide becasue of the GMC display I designed to be on site in NO. Wonder if you had any thing to do with this. If so, small world. O-H!...)
Trotwood-Madison. Once a Ram, Always a Ram.
"Loose" what I get for not checking autocorrect. My bad buckeye nation.
I'm not trying to say that this is good, merely that it at least they didn't completely eff it up. Not exactly a ringing endorsement? That's because its not. But I'm also not for the torches and pitchfork approach.
I think you're right on with your assesment of the kearning of the letters. I'd love to see you take a stab.
Incidentally, the cadillac Crest must be a bitch to work with on a smaller scale. So you actually have different logos for different sizes?
I am not involved with the Super Bowl Style guide, as branding comes out of the New York office, but I do have contact with those guys. I'm on the digital media team in LA.
Did you do the GMC display at NFL Experience?
I-O!!!
looks too much like "Sparty, NO!"
“The teams that don’t respect their coaches and don’t trust their coaches are the teams that go .500"
~Zach Boren
this is not what I saw earlier. i will post in a bit.
"Don't put syrup on shit, and tell me it's pancakes"
No matter how sh*tty the tour is, it's always tough to leave.
http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/2013/02/the-ohio-state-university-bloc...
"Don't put syrup on shit, and tell me it's pancakes"
No matter how sh*tty the tour is, it's always tough to leave.
Wait, what? Is the above logo a fake?
yeah somebody call Gene and remind him April Fools is still like 2 months away
Read the bottom of the article. It pretty much describes the above logo.
not sure, but I didn't see it in the article.
"Don't put syrup on shit, and tell me it's pancakes"
No matter how sh*tty the tour is, it's always tough to leave.
Not a fan of it.
"Don't put syrup on shit, and tell me it's pancakes"
No matter how sh*tty the tour is, it's always tough to leave.
Yeah that seal change to a Block O is cool.
The center shield with the block O, book, and buckeye leaf would look great on a polo or as a pattern on a tie.
Class of 2008
as an Alum...I disapprove. It is going to look horrible on anything red...the full black letters will just blend into any red clothing
Stay golden, Ponyboy.
As a fellow alumn......it's Scarlet....not Red. ;)
"I'm One Bad Buckeye, and I approve this message."
not sure nike makes anything Scarlet these days
Stay golden, Ponyboy.
True....hopefully we didn't go the route of scUM and lose our rights to Scarlet because Nike thought they should go ahead and copyright it.
"I'm One Bad Buckeye, and I approve this message."
This belongs on the OSU memes page, assuming it's still alive
WB
see my take above. Not quite as black and white as everyone is painting it out to be...
Here, Ramzy, have all my internets.
The Ohio State University, College of Arts & Sciences, Class of 2006
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Class of 2009
LOLLLLLLL!!!! And now I'm sad again. SMH.
“The minute we stop expecting greatness from our football program, we become Wisconsin.” Craig Krenzel
exactly. i guess this is what happens when you have more money than you know what to do with. you buy dumb things like this tarded logo
I dont have feelings about it one way or the other.
I'm also thankful that as far as new logos go, it's not nearly as atrocious as the Cal System logo. Oh my GOD
the Cal logo is awful. and here i thought smart people went there
So what was wrong with the old logo for athletics?
Nothing.
I don't get it. What's the point of this? The only reason you update the logo is for PR/publicity purposes, right? How many people who are non-alums/hardcore OSU fans would even notice this? If nobody notices it, why change it at all?!
Even a new and flagarantly BAD "Oregon-ized" logo would be "better" in the sense that it would get Lots of press and coverage and people would at least notice it. The All exposure is good exposure argument.
With this, ... it's just literally burning dollar bills in the parking lot. Why bother?
They should just get rid of the words completly, and go with an actual Block O.
I can't agree with you more than I currently do.
Twitter: @conquestnorman
please no
tell me this is a joke
The only thing that makes the "Ohio State" text look good in the first place is the white down the middle of each letter, making it solid black looks ridiculous
If this is true then Gene Smith has the brain of a peanut butter cookie.
Imagine, Gene and some other people sitting around a presentation. At some point, he really did say, "Yes, that is the one. Good job."
We really do pay these people, honest.
WB
Horrible...someone needs to be fired over this.
The 2012 National Champions.
That's incredibly bad - I mean they should of hired me, I would've at least put some more gray into it. I took their idea & did this (assuming they want to keep the logo flat, rather than all shiney & beveled.)
"Leave...Your...Mark..."
I like the one on the left because the text doesn't tak away from the block O...which is what they are pushing
Stay golden, Ponyboy.
Either of these is infinitely better than what they came up with. Hoping this is a joke...
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
I actually like your two logos better. At least you were willing to take a risk. And you didn't even get paid for your work. I think.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
Lose the drop-shadow and yep, this is totally mobile friendly. This at 30x30 (60x60 retina resolution) won't work with the drop.
Simplicity isn't a bad thing folks...
So this is what the ticket price increase went to?? Are you serious?
Just keep looking and then you'll see it.....
I think its a schooner.
~Because we couldn't go for three~
yeah it's called modern art. which is to say, not good
Poopy-trip!
You gotta relax your eyes...
Why change something that had absolutely nothing wrong with it?
I am not sure if i like it. I dont think i do at all.
Honestly, it would have looked good if the lettering was gray with a thin black stroke around the letters.
I wouldn't cheer for Michigan if they were playing the Taliban.
I think it would look fine if they disconnected the S and the T in the middle, and also the T and the E at the end. it just looks super weird without the white in the text. keeping them connected make it look like a huge blob of text.
i think everyone needs to cool it on this logo personally, i think this is all going to tie in with the football program, and i have a strange feeling black is going to become more prevalent in ohio state athletics, just my hunch, i dont have any sources to cite or tweets to embed
why are we complicating this?
or
^^^ THIS. The current logo is starting to look 90'ish while a simple Block O is timeless and retro. Let's just use the O on Woody's hat ? And while we are at it, the new Brutus looks like a wimp. I vote old school Brutus
Let's go really old school.
Class of 2008
What a snout !
yeah, what a butterface!
...maybe not quite that old school. That's one creepy Buckeye!
Brady Hoke's reaction to the Urban Meyer hire: "Not good."
Dude needs arms. Brutus has to have arms.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
I hate to say it, but didn't Brutus get his ass kicked by the Bobcat from Athens?
If I was Brutus, I would have gone all UFC on that pussy cat.
Agree with you though Mush. The old Brutus looks like one bad mutha f$#%ka.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
i hope whoever got paid to do this doesn't get within 100 miles of our uniforms
I'm assuming they hired the same firm that did the new B1G logo. Shameful lack of creativity.
I am probably alone, but I like the simplicity of the B1G logo, and the fact that we all now say B1G.
I like the B1G logo a lot, too. I think it took undue heat because it was announced with the new division names, which suck.
Agreed. B1G is nice.
WB
The B1G logo is clever and well crafted by one of most respected firms/designers in the biz. This Athletic O update is lazy and misguided at best.
Pentagram ftw. Always.
Great. Now I'm going to have to buy a shitload of merch with the current logo on it before it's gone, to avoid having to buy stuff with the new logo later.
Michael, actually, since someone was kind enough to point out the MS paint paint bucket tool, you just need a box of white-out to create the old logo on any new stuff you might buy.
Keep Calm and Ignore the Trolls.
Amazingly, I dislike it less every time I look at it. Maybe I'm just getting tired though.
You should totally use it as yor new icon.
"Don't put syrup on shit, and tell me it's pancakes"
No matter how sh*tty the tour is, it's always tough to leave.
Check with BUCKSFAN, I think he may have some ideas on the icon change thing
EDIT: HA! Didn't realize it was already his post--can you believe I didn't recognize the icon?? Nice work, Chief!
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
At first glance, I thought that was a new logo for Purdue...
I wouldn't cheer for Michigan if they were playing the Taliban.
If this was made by an alumnus of the marketing department they should probably just shut the whole thing down.
Taquitos.
I despised the logo earlier, but now it looks better after a few glasses of wine. Maybe this is an indicator they are going to start serving beer at the Shoe, or perhaps the designers were just drunk when they did it.
The main problem I always have with decisions like this is to go outside of the school for a new design. Almost every university has an Arts/Graphic Design program and why not open up a competition to the students to create a new logo. First it makes sure they won't make it look horrible (like this logo does) and it is great for them to use in the future.
Well.. look at it this way.. it could be worse.
How firm thy friendship..
...or not.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
I wish they would have told me they were looking for someone to color in some letters for them. I could have used the cash.
"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."
With the rise in ticket prices and now this
I actually like it better than the most recent one. Wish they would just go back to the plain old Block O if I had my druthers.
vacuuming sucks
Sucks donkeys.
AND THERE STILL AREN'T ANY GRAY STRIPES ON THE SCARLET JERSEYS!!!!
Dammit this all infuriates me.
Aaand what was their second choice? Odds are I would have preferred it.
It just looks so seventies-ish, right when companies/universities/teams decided to modernize their logos. Not to mention downright ugly.
"This new logo is rad!!!!"
Champions Bleed Scarlet & Gray
said no one ever
Lol wow I cant believe how some of you are really taking this so serious and getting bent out of shape. Its just a slight tweek to the logo. You mean to tell me that by filling in the letters it made the logo oh so terrible? If thats the case you either didnt like the old logo very much to begin with or you just hate change. Its just a more bold version of the one it replaced. Lol its not the end of the world people geesh...
Hit it on the nose for me. I thought our old logo looked too 90's in the 90's. I have always wanted to go back to the Block O. Make a statement.
It's the official symbol of the university athletics department, and it looks like a moderately talented seven year old drew it – rather than a mildly talented ten year old drew it, as was the case with the old logo.
The slight changes DID make it terrible.
Taquitos.
I've never been a fan of the current athletic logo. I avoid it on clothing as much as possible. I agree with most everyone that a simple Block O would be bad ass and also be timeless. Just another reason for me to dislike Gene Smith even more. You don't see AACC fucking around with their logo. It has been the same as long as I can remember. They just fuck around with the colors, which is another rant entirely.
What ever happened to "If it's not broke, don't fix it"?
SoDakBuckeyeFan
Well, it is better than this short lived logo:
"Don't put syrup on shit, and tell me it's pancakes"
No matter how sh*tty the tour is, it's always tough to leave.
OMG, make it go away! LOL... nice find.
GO BUCKS!
I've had that sticker since it came out in the 90's.
"Don't put syrup on shit, and tell me it's pancakes"
No matter how sh*tty the tour is, it's always tough to leave.
I thought that edition was from the 80s, Chief? Seems to me that was the style when Earle was HC. Could be wrong.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
i'll wait for the official release before i get furious...but they can't be serious. How much did they get paid for this?
nvm...it is official...uhhhhh
"Winter is coming" - Urban Meyer
Get the sharpie out for the brand fucking new basket ball court. Wouldn't you think that the new logo would be rolled out BEFORE you spend a butt load of money for a new floor. They wouldn't have to rape us at the gate if they would do things right the first time. This is like paving a road and then tearing it up the next week to fix a sewer. FUCKING BRILLIANT!
That logo was horrid to start with. Have never liked it and I try not to buy gear that has it prominently featured. I prefer the simpler classic block O.
That being said... I suspect (which someone above mentioned) that most are just used to the old one and deep in their subconscious never really liked it. Once tweaked with the infill job, your inner revulsion is bubbling forth to spew the angst! LOL.
Simple thing, don't over do it folks. Peace.
GO BUCKS!
Looking at the new logo I see this scenario playing through my head:
Ohio State decides to take open submissions for the new logo from the student body, with all the talent they have surely this is a good idea... Drunk student decides it would be hilarious to take the old logo and just color in the letters... he submits it. Whomever makes this decision says "Man this logo really looks great lets go with this".
And that folks is how the new Ohio State athletic logo was chosen.
I'd be all for using the helmet sticker leaf while sticking with the simplicity of the Block O.
this is nice.
GO BUCKS!
BINGO !
Student demonstration time! Stop this logo now! The plain block O with buckeye leaf works. Classic. Timeless. At least keep the open lines in the logo and leave it alone. Power to the people! We DO NOT like the new logo.
perfection... simple & classic!
Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever!
When I first saw it yesterday, I thought the new logo thing was a hoax.
PLEASE MAKE IT GO AWAY.
All my upvotes.
The Ohio State University, College of Arts & Sciences, Class of 2006
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Class of 2009
I don't think anyone has seen this or you would have won some sort of upvote record by now...
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
Boo... not working :(
Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever!