Jump to content

Jacksonville Dolphins Unveil Bold New Logos, Colours


Recommended Posts

7 hours ago, stumpygremlin said:

The thing is, though, as it relates to collegiate sports, Dolphins is a unique nickname.

There are a grand total of four NCAA schools that use that nickname: Jacksonville, Le Moyne (Division II), College of Staten Island (Division III), and College of Mount St. Vincent (Division III). There are five community colleges that use it, and then Cal State-Channel Islands that has no athletics.


Maybe so, but there's still no way "the Dolphins" will ever refer to Jacksonville U the way "Tar Heels" refers to UNC or "Crimson Tide" refers to Alabama.  It's a nonsensical nickname in the first place considering Jacksonville isn't even near the ocean.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, NicDB said:


Maybe so, but there's still no way "the Dolphins" will ever refer to Jacksonville U the way "Tar Heels" refers to UNC or "Crimson Tide" refers to Alabama.  It's a nonsensical nickname in the first place considering Jacksonville isn't even near the ocean.

 

If you say so.

 

Jax.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, NicDB said:


Maybe so, but there's still no way "the Dolphins" will ever refer to Jacksonville U the way "Tar Heels" refers to UNC or "Crimson Tide" refers to Alabama.  It's a nonsensical nickname in the first place considering Jacksonville isn't even near the ocean.

OK, but outside of a handful (UNC, Va. Tech, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Notre Dame, Ohio St.), colleges generally don't work that way. I mean, the SEC has three Tigers and two Bulldogs.

GoldenPanthers.png
RiverHawks.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, NicDB said:

It's a nonsensical nickname in the first place considering Jacksonville isn't even near the ocean.

Sense in names in college went out the window a long time ago. A third of the Pacific-12 Conference is located in states that aren't on the Pacific coast.

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (CHL - 2018 Orr Cup Champions) Chicago Rivermen (UBA/WBL - 2014, 2015, 2017 Intercontinental Cup Champions)

King's Own Hexham FC (BIP - 2022 Saint's Cup Champions) Portland Explorers (EFL - Elite Bowl XIX Champions) Real San Diego (UPL) Red Bull Seattle (ULL - 2018, 2019, 2020 Gait Cup Champions) Vancouver Huskies (CL)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, andrewharrington said:

If anything, I see the the current “minimalist trend” as a return to the processes and techniques that built so many of those great identities. Are there really any great college identities that are more complex than this one? When I think of a great college identity, all the ones that come to mind are ultra-simple, much simpler than this, even. Any identity can be supplemented with a wacky cartoon with loads of character, but its most effective being just that; support. It’s not flexible enough to build a brand around, which is why you see that approach going away.

 

The first program that jumps to mind is Wisconsin. I know they have the simple W, but their badger logo is among the highest-profile in sports. They launched a simple cleanup in '02 and have shown restraint by leaving it unchanged since:

WDBG2GP.jpg

Its certainly an improvement, but an inefficient/cluttered design by 2018 standards. I nabbed a stock image and made some quick tweaks to illustrate a(n exaggerated) direction a trend-hopping brand might take this identity in 2018:

bQxRMIj.jpg

A basic design with a heavy-handed negative-space W & some shtick like "arching ears represent the sun rising and setting over fertile Wisconsin farmland." This style feels like designers pillaging brands to get themselves over as contemporary artists, which, again, comes back to designers isolating & pantomiming economic design elements without adequately understanding or representing the totality of the brands. Shoehorning fauxback elements into modern designs feels synthetic & disingenuous - the difference between simple design & holistic branding. I'm not in the same league as you & Joe, obviously, but the further into it I get, the more I feel that this is an overly subtle & stuffy/standardized era in sports design.

 

Of course, its apples & oranges with a minor school like Jacksonville vs. Wisconsin (this Jacksonville Dolphins brand has never looked better), but nonetheless, I can't imagine a brand like Wisconsin diluting itself to cater to modern trends. I think we'll look back in 20-30 years at this era as a time when identities were bleached & standardized into neat little phone app icons. I think brands will look to break free with more character and start a whole new trend, expanding economy into character to give brands a pulse again. Anyone who thinks this style is permanent (or any style, for that matter) fundamentally misunderstands the cyclical nature of design. The evolution of design is a series of over-corrections. This era is no different.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@C Squared i think we all spend our early years raging against the establishment, looking to break the mold. and as you get older you realize, damn that was a pretty good mold to begin with. and with so many designers all over the world now, there are people with every variation of taste, experience, background, and skill putting their stuff into the pot. i think trends in design are very short lived now and what you see prevail in the long run are the fundamental principles of design. especially in sport, all the fun NBA stuff of the 90s and storytelling uniforms of 1999-2014 football fades away but stuff like Wisconsin's flying W sticks. so, im with @andrewharrington in that sense; trends die off but good, highly crafted stuff does not go away unless some owner decides "i just dont like it". man has always communicated with symbols and simple drawings; that will never stop

 

but i also agree with your point that modern identities have become crude— its brutalism when people think they're doing minimalism, but off the top of my head i dont know if i agree that is in sports yet. not to the extreme where we have wordmarks set in Helvetica; id like to see real world examples that support that, rather than a hypothetical Wisconsin one which by the way, i think is a very solid concept.

 

if you're looking for stuff thats more inspiring though, i'd recommend checking out Lincoln Design Co and Forefathers Group if you aren't yet familiar. if you're looking for the future of identity design, i'd say they have a grasp on it and wouldn't be surprised if it makes its way into sports as well. and not so much for the style, but for their philosophy behind it.

 

oh, and if you're worried sports design is in a Brutalist phase, it might delight you to know a trend that followed Brutalist architecture was Post-Modernism, where details and flourishes were embraced in reaction to former staleness. maybe that happens in identity design

 

GRAPHIC ARTIST

BEHANCE  /  MEDIUM  /  DRIBBBLE

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, NicDB said:


Maybe so, but there's still no way "the Dolphins" will ever refer to Jacksonville U the way "Tar Heels" refers to UNC or "Crimson Tide" refers to Alabama.  It's a nonsensical nickname in the first place considering Jacksonville isn't even near the ocean.

Uh where do you think Jacksonville is exactly? I mean it has its own naval base on it, and port.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, NicDB said:


Maybe so, but there's still no way "the Dolphins" will ever refer to Jacksonville U the way "Tar Heels" refers to UNC or "Crimson Tide" refers to Alabama.  It's a nonsensical nickname in the first place considering Jacksonville isn't even near the ocean.

Do you not know where Jacksonville is? Not only is the city right next to the coast, but the University is right next to the river. In fact, it isn't incredible rare to see an Dolphins in that area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I stand corrected on Jacksonville's location... I honestly thought it was further inland.  

But it doesn't matter that they had the name before Miami when the NFL has a much larger platform than mid major D1 athletics.  Not like colleges haven't changed their nicknames before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, C-Squared said:

The first program that jumps to mind is Wisconsin. I know they have the simple W, but their badger logo is among the highest-profile in sports. They launched a simple cleanup in '02 and have shown restraint by leaving it unchanged since:

WDBG2GP.jpg

Its certainly an improvement, but an inefficient/cluttered design by 2018 standards. I nabbed a stock image and made some quick tweaks to illustrate a(n exaggerated) direction a trend-hopping brand might take this identity in 2018:

bQxRMIj.jpg

 

I actually prefer your negative-space badger to that bastardized Bucky.  Mostly because the motion-sickness W looks awful on his sweater. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, C-Squared said:

 

The first program that jumps to mind is Wisconsin. I know they have the simple W, but their badger logo is among the highest-profile in sports. They launched a simple cleanup in '02 and have shown restraint by leaving it unchanged since:

WDBG2GP.jpg

Its certainly an improvement, but an inefficient/cluttered design by 2018 standards. I nabbed a stock image and made some quick tweaks to illustrate a(n exaggerated) direction a trend-hopping brand might take this identity in 2018:

bQxRMIj.jpg

A basic design with a heavy-handed negative-space W & some shtick like "arching ears represent the sun rising and setting over fertile Wisconsin farmland." This style feels like designers pillaging brands to get themselves over as contemporary artists, which, again, comes back to designers isolating & pantomiming economic design elements without adequately understanding or representing the totality of the brands. Shoehorning fauxback elements into modern designs feels synthetic & disingenuous - the difference between simple design & holistic branding. I'm not in the same league as you & Joe, obviously, but the further into it I get, the more I feel that this is an overly subtle & stuffy/standardized era in sports design.

 

Of course, its apples & oranges with a minor school like Jacksonville vs. Wisconsin (this Jacksonville Dolphins brand has never looked better), but nonetheless, I can't imagine a brand like Wisconsin diluting itself to cater to modern trends. I think we'll look back in 20-30 years at this era as a time when identities were bleached & standardized into neat little phone app icons. I think brands will look to break free with more character and start a whole new trend, expanding economy into character to give brands a pulse again. Anyone who thinks this style is permanent (or any style, for that matter) fundamentally misunderstands the cyclical nature of design. The evolution of design is a series of over-corrections. This era is no different.

 

This is perfectly valid, but it illustrates my point. Bucky (and Purdue Pete, Tuffy the Wolf, Rameses the Ram, etc) are but individual, minor pieces of larger identities; identities that are anchored by very simple, powerful, and bold design.

 

Honestly, I think this JU monogram compares favorably with those iconic collegiate marks in terms of having distinguishing features, especially for a small school. In fact, I don’t even see it as minimal. It’s simple, sure, but not minimal. Alabama’s A is minimal. The SC monogram is minimal. Michigan’s M is minimal. The OU monogram, Oregon’s O, and Texas’ longhorn are minimal. There’s definitely more to this than many of the most iconic marks.

 

Do you think maybe there’s an expectation for a small school to have a busy logo with lots of stuff crammed into it, so when we see one that’s treated very simply (like a big school), it looks jarringly simple?

I still don't have a website, but I have a dribbble now! http://dribbble.com/andyharry

[The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the position, strategy or opinions of adidas and/or its brands.]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.