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- Best player interview ever? Koevermans is about to drive off a cliff. #TFC http://t.co/TtWcBK3z 46 mins ago
- Olman Vargas will be played by Guy Pearce in the #Crew96 movie. 18 hrs ago
- To be fair, #Crew96 are more than lucky to be ahead. Bumbling play against a ruthless opponent. Gruenebaum saves Columbus. 19 hrs ago
- Bahaha, super class goal from Meram. Placement and a cigarette. #Crew96 19 hrs ago
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- @mattgoshert eh, I dunno. I think they are affiliated with Umbro. A sponsored blog maybe? in reply to mattgoshert 5 days ago
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- @GuldanMR Fair. in reply to GuldanMR 5 days ago
- @GuldanMR They seem to have put effort into making every other match seem exciting, even ones that aren't particularly so. in reply to GuldanMR 5 days ago
- This is pretty effed up for the @PhilaUnion … http://t.co/XJmPxY2H 5 days ago
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12|07|08
CREW LOGO MARCHES ON
Written by: Gabe
My proposed refresh of the Columbus Crew’s logo has become unexpectedly controversial. I’ve had feedback of all kinds, ranging from enthusiastic support, constructive criticism, and (the most entertaining) inconsequential condescending ignorance. Shall we?
“Awesome! We need a new logo.”
Thanks. Join the Facebook group!
“NO!!! THIS IS RETARDED! WHAT A STUPID IDEA!!! NEVER CHANGE THE LOGO!!!”
Thanks! Are you employed?
“I have spent too long defending our logo to let it go now. Keep the old one!”
What if for some reason you couldn’t change your shirt for 12 years, and I offered you a fresh new shirt for free? I suppose you’ve defended being filthy for so long you’d rather stay that way. Good luck with those first impressions. I understand unconditional support, but save it for the team, not the logo.
“The imperfections in our logo make it special, à la the Tower of Pisa”
I laughed a lot at this. First off, the Tower is an architectural failure, an anomaly, and was never intended to lean. That’s the only reason people go see it. If you want people to come see Crew games just to look at our shitty logo then I will indeed have a tough time arguing with you.
Secondly, imperfections are something you get used to, not something you desire. If The Crew had started with a crisp logo, and I therefore never started this initiative, I doubt anyone would be begging for some imperfections to love.
“There’s nothing wrong with it! If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!”
There are quite a few things wrong with it actually. It is sloppy and lazy design work, and I shouldn’t have to say that is unacceptable for “America’s Hardest Working Team”. A bit of what I’m referring to: you notice the jagged angles and messy detail in the dude’s shirts? That happens when a designer uses tracing software to turn bitmap graphics into vectors. The computer to guesses how to draw your image, instead of doing it yourself. Essentially, a lazy designer let the computer do the work for him or her. The result? A logo with detail so irrelevant it doesn’t reproduce when embroidered (scarves, hats, jerseys) or when printed at sizes less than 2 inches (tickets, program guides, advertising).
I get into more detail about why the current logo sucks in the Photos section of the Facebook group.
“A logo can’t becoming iconic or legendary if you keep changing it.”
I almost fell for this one. It seems logical. However, an “iconic” team logo is nothing more than a symbol of what the team has accomplished. A team with a long history and great triumphs will have an iconic logo no matter how many times it changes. Some examples of legendary teams whose logos have changed multiple times:
Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Rangers, Aston Villa, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Ajax, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Lyon, Marseille, Bayern Munich
And for those of you kidding yourselves, The Crew has ONLY been around for 12 years. For some perspective, Arsenal, who have changed their badge many times, were founded in EIGHTEEN EIGHTY-SIX and enjoy worldwide support.
“Rebranding costs a fortune”
This is probably true. However, when done at the right time, the choice to make this investment is easy… and businesses do it all the time. A new championship is putting a lot of curious eyes on The Crew. We need to impress.
“I am not opposed to a new logo but this one isn’t my cup of tea”
Awesome. All I want is a crisp, professional-quality logo for my team. If it’s not mine, that’s OK. Please post up your ideas on the Facebook group.
After all that, I have made some changes based on the reasoned, constructive feedback I received from people. The updated version is below.
(Thanks to the Facebook group, the .02% of BigSoccer contributors that had something intelligent to say, a couple of people on Astroheader, and my friends)
you are stupid this is not a shirt that new logo looks retarded no one likes it so give it up
OrangeShorts,
You are right, after reading all the “comments” like the one above, there is a lack of intelligence with this group.
Makes me ashamed to be a Crew fan.
Your logo is stupid and looks like you have a bunch of robots on steriods. The old Crew logo has so much more character. We don’t need stupid robots to replace construction workers. YOU SUCK!
WELL IF IT’S STUPID I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO QUIT!
((((
OK, I can’t believe two different people actually posted a comment saying it’s “stupid”. LOL is this real?? I feel like giving up just because I can’t seem to establish a productive dialogue with anyone about it. Lots of insults to sort through to find some occasional substance.
I like the old Logo, and it is what I identify with.
I personally do not like the logo you created, as I think it is actually worse than the one we currently have (which I have no problem with).
Re-branding probably eventually will have to happen, as we are the only original team that has not done so yet. But I think your design is not the way to go. Maybe you should work on something different?
While the new one jumps out at me at first, I think I agree with the dude in the facebook group who recommended adding a sledgehammer and pickaxe to the background figures for asymmetry. While it’s a bit evocative of old school propaganda styles from the red army as it stands, that can be a good thing if done properly.
And I DEFINITELY agree that the current one needs to go. I could churn that crap out with a stock photo and photoshop in no time. It’s the quality of the execution on the figures, not necessarily the concept that’s flawed. To please the public you’re going to need to branch away from the current one enough to make it seem worth it, but a couple things;
-Drop the serif font, and don’t let it bleed into the apex of the border on that shield. Switch it to a blocky bold face, even keep the bevel, but don’t utilize the sort of “soviet” feeling text. It’s visually pleasing, but kind of distracting from the Crew’s identity.
-Remove the recognizable faces from the figures, and bring in a more generic figure with hard features, like what’s been done already. I don’t know how someone can look at that and say “robot”, that’s simply not being constructive.
-Implement the star, but do it better than this: http://tinyurl.com/5lqhy9
I like the idea of rivets or bolts instead of a star
I hate the name “crew” though so nothing really pleases me. I wont slam anyone for trying to be creative. Those who hate just prove they dont have the talent or guts to put something out there.
Hi, just wanted to add my opinion on the logo, I can see what you’re attempting making the ‘crew’ guys a bit more modern looking, as for the rest of the design I think you’ve gone backwards. It’s claimed to be more streamlined now, but when you loo at it, it is all blocks, and I don’t really think of bricks as being streamlined. Maybe giving the shape of the badge as a whole a rethink would be best. I don’t like the grey and white ‘crew’ guy either, just looks out of place on the logo and doesn’t blend, but I can’t think of a suggestion for what you could do there. Thanks,