George Mason unveiled their new logo and faced criticism across the internet. The transition to lifeless basic branding is sucking the life out of colleges' recognition.
None of those new logos are an upgrade. Not even close.
Back in 2010 Michigan State had plans with Nike to redo the Spartan helmet logo. Someone on the main MSU message board found it before was announced by browsing the US patent office website and immediately posted it on the board. Thankfully the fan outcry was enough that it forced MSU to keep the logo the same.
That's absolutely wild, I hadn't heard about that MSU story before. It's like the saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I don't understand the fascination with schools deciding to refresh their branding, when nothing was wrong with the previous branding.
It was a fun couple weeks on the message board, the MSU athletic department was basically caught with their pants down. The rumor was Nike wanted to do the switch since it would change the helmet to a solid piece, closer to USC's logo. Currently if you're embroidering the Spartan helmet there are 10 individual pieces. I never really bought that argument. Thread is cheap and Nike is paying sweatshop wages. I think it was one party, MSU or Nike, thought if we redo the logo we can sell more merch.
Also, had the new proposed logo not been leaked, who knows if it would have been scrapped. There would have been outcry from the fans, but once the t-shirts are printed it's a lot easy to say "too bad, we're sticking with it."
Glad someone else is seeing this and got a piece out on it. I was just around Davidson College the other day who made a similar move - trading in an iconic logo for a really *normal* one. Nice work
None of those new logos are an upgrade. Not even close.
Back in 2010 Michigan State had plans with Nike to redo the Spartan helmet logo. Someone on the main MSU message board found it before was announced by browsing the US patent office website and immediately posted it on the board. Thankfully the fan outcry was enough that it forced MSU to keep the logo the same.
That's absolutely wild, I hadn't heard about that MSU story before. It's like the saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I don't understand the fascination with schools deciding to refresh their branding, when nothing was wrong with the previous branding.
It was a fun couple weeks on the message board, the MSU athletic department was basically caught with their pants down. The rumor was Nike wanted to do the switch since it would change the helmet to a solid piece, closer to USC's logo. Currently if you're embroidering the Spartan helmet there are 10 individual pieces. I never really bought that argument. Thread is cheap and Nike is paying sweatshop wages. I think it was one party, MSU or Nike, thought if we redo the logo we can sell more merch.
Also, had the new proposed logo not been leaked, who knows if it would have been scrapped. There would have been outcry from the fans, but once the t-shirts are printed it's a lot easy to say "too bad, we're sticking with it."
Glad someone else is seeing this and got a piece out on it. I was just around Davidson College the other day who made a similar move - trading in an iconic logo for a really *normal* one. Nice work
Thank you! Hopefully it's just a fashion trend that will inevitably go out of style at some point here in the coming years.