The superbowl madness has came and went. The archnemesis Patriots were defeated by the cross-town brothers, the Giants. The ad world was abuzz in the BrandBowl hashtag for a solid 3 days. And the Jets now have the very same record as the world champion Giants. So of course, the only natural thing to write about, logos.
The NFL announced recently that it would stray from it’s logo-a-year redesign, and instead move to a static, roman numeral based, monochromatic logo. While many fans seem to be against the move; design snobs, Co. Design, and hipsters alike have been wetting their pants over the move. While the newly designed logo may solidify the superbowl brand in the minds of it’s fans, it sucks the very life out of the game so many people love, almost as much as the new kick-off from the 35 instead of the 30 year line.
Design is representative of the times. While no one is going to look at the 1968 logo of superbowl III and think it representative of great design, it does conjure up images years past, a simpler time, and a basic-ness of the start of the NFL as we know it today – all representative of one of the greatest superbowls ever played, in which the underdog Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts.
1996? Not many people will remember it as the turning point in Desmond Howard’s carrer by looking at the gauche purple and yellow, but it will give us faint images of New Orleans.
And is it coincidence the 2008 logo’s similarities to the new Bank of America logo that were the foretelling of the financial collapse in the not too distant future? Maybe.
But the 2011 logo? Almost as disappointing as this year’s commercials.