Redditor OspreyDawn, aka graphic designer Max O'Brien, spent the last several months creating the complete set of NFL redesigned logos you see above. This sort of thing happens periodically–here are some minimalist logos from January–but it's still a daunting task, and a good reminder that a. making good logos is really hard, and b. we may take our existing sports logos (ugly as many of them might be) for granted. Let's nitpick!
(Click here for a larger version)
The Good:
- The Browns logo. Any new logo will be better than the current one (but worse than this old Browns logo).
- Making stuff too minimalist can be a problem, but the simple Steelers logo–which retains the iconic Steelmark–looks great.
- That Titans logo is badass. "Titans" dominated Slate's 2012 March Madness mascot bracket (referring to the Detroit Titans), yet the Tennessee Titans have decided to ignore all the amazing possibilities of their name and throw a raccoon on the field.
The Bad:
- Somebody return that Vikings logo to the Sgt. Pepper cover where it belongs.
- Every fan-designed Jets logo includes an actual jet. It never works.
- O'Brien is a fan of extremely ornate interlocked lettering, like the Mets/Yankees icons on steroids. That Packers logo verges on unreadable (although I like the Wisconsin backdrop).
- The Bills logo is clever*, but at a distance it looks like a horrible six-legged mutant buffalo.
- This is a dumb nitpick, but it's weird to see a sideways horseshoe. They don't go like that!
The Ugly:
- "Two interlocking letters? Fuck that. Let's do three interlocking letters." The Giants logo looks like one of those marble tube mazes.
- O'Brien is into curvy, tapered-off points. It works for the Chargers horse's mane, but not so much for the Redskins logo, while the Bengals logo looks like angry sperm.
- The Cowboys' current logo does just fine without a stylized Chris Walken, thank you very much.
See a logo you like? Got nitpicky shit to say? Leave it in the comments.
*It's ambiguous, though. Either the buffalo and the human are teammates (and the buffalo is lead blocking), or we are looking at an extremely impressive stiff arm.