Seattle Sounders FC announce plan to "explore the club's identity"

[Brave-Bird 08]

Maroon nailed it. 

 

1) Move off the overly-complicated, impossible to embroider crest without doing a full overhaul

2) Use the wordmarks + alternate logos as an opportunity to refresh the brand 

 

Overall, what matters here is not just the logo itself, but the fact the merch is going to be better because there's a better suite of options. And if you go look at the merch release they did alongside this, it all looks fantastic. 

[Digby]

Reminds me of the Revolution rebrand, and the Miami initial brand, in that I like all the separate side pieces quite a bit except for the primary logo.

 

The primary logo is a nice cleanup but needs something else that says "Sounders" -- the logo looks like it represents the Space Needle's observation deck more than it does a soccer team. Though I'm glad they've rejected a lot of the recent MLS cliches.

 

Colors are a mixed bag for me. The green seems turned up in a good way, their traditional green has always looked like a bright green that's faded or gone rancid which seemed to miss the point. Aqua as a new color that references the Seattle flag is what they always should've done. Not sure about the blue, there are maybe TOO many bright colors happening now and a navy possibly would've felt like a better base for the other brights. Plus I thought their current shade of blue was pretty pleasant and underrated (opposite of the o.g. Rave Green).

 

The fightin' orca is fantastic. Nice to see MLS embracing a bit of whimsy again after so much of the league has been so self-serious for years.

[Dilbert]

Its a bit minimalistic. Right now the logo looks like its for Seattle, but for what in Seattle? It could be for anything in Seattle. I think add the wordmark below the crest and it would be better. Otherwise its a much better rebrand than the previous MLS rebrands.

 

I love the secondary logos. I can understand that many wanted the orca in the primary. A majority of fans grew up with the orca logo

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Love, love, love the orca.

 

The crest itself is an improvement, but almost anything would have been. I'm not blown away, but I don't hate it.

 

Solid B, I would say. The new shirts will be the most telling if this is a home run or not.

[YELDARBfield]

I'm not where I can screenshot at the moment, but check out around the 1:28 mark of this video:

https://www.soundersfc.com/video/watch-the-making-of-our-brand-evolution

 

Assuming these are actual concepts from the process, they explored quite a few directions for this rebrand, from an orca-centric crest to the cliché MLS roundel with the former Space Needle art.

 

I think y'all have nailed the analysis. This is a very good modernization of a loved-but-flawed crest with slightly better colors. The alternate marks are stellar. Merch will be much improved, including this shirt I need to order very soon: 

[MrOrange]

I think it's a good refresh overall from the decluttered primary to the well done wordmarks and secondary logos.

 

the alternate crests/logos explored and briefly shown in the video were mostly more to my liking however.

 

too bad they didn't tone down the rave green even more or switch to a diffrent green all together tough.

the newly added heritage color is a nice touch.

[Rygi13]

I imagine they're going to have a hard time rendering those colors in different mediums (Jerseys, print, hats, etc.).

I'm not sure if it's because of the saturation of both the rave green and blue colors, but they don't seem to have enough contrast when used next to each other. It kind of hurts my eyes.

[Dynasty]

I thought the crest was a minor secondary logo at first. A little underwhelming, but it should be easy enough to use in merchandise and media applications.

 

The colors are too bright. One of them has to be toned down more.

[Krona]

2 hours ago, YELDARBfield said:

I'm not where I can screenshot at the moment, but check out around the 1:28 mark of this video:

https://www.soundersfc.com/video/watch-the-making-of-our-brand-evolution

 

Assuming these are actual concepts from the process, they explored quite a few directions for this rebrand, from an orca-centric crest to the cliché MLS roundel with the former Space Needle art.

 

I think y'all have nailed the analysis. This is a very good modernization of a loved-but-flawed crest with slightly better colors. The alternate marks are stellar. Merch will be much improved, including this shirt I need to order very soon: 

I feel like quite a few of those concepts are better than where they landed

[kmccarthy27]

I find it to be the least tone deaf logo that MLS has created lately. They finally made a logo that was not trying to be something more than a soccer logo. 

[VampyrRabbit]

6 hours ago, officeglenn said:

 

 

https://news.sportslogos.net/2023/09/26/seattle-sounders-new-logo/soccer/

There's a mistake with the article with regards the crest history.  It should say 1994 - 2008 for the Orca logo, not 1984 - 2008. The NASL club was folded after the 1983 Season, and a new Sounders club was formed in 1994, with the Orca logo being introduced that year.

[johnrafael]

The identity is strong, is consistent, however, the main logo seems empty, looks like a secondary logo or something. IMHO, MLS isn't still that strong in world scenario to afford for a team that doesn't have the name in their logo. People outside US will surely question: What team is this?

 

Will surely wait for the jersey to give a final opinion.

[Brian in Boston]

There aren't many professional soccer clubs that eschew incorporating their name - or, at the very least, their initials - into their crest. Wracking my brain, I can think of Atlético Madrid, Botafogo, Cheltenham Town, Derby County FC, Fiorentina, Genoa, JEF United Chiba, Norwich City FC, Pumas UNAM, Salernitana, and Wolverhampton. I'm sure there are more, but clearly such clubs are in the minority.

I'll give Seattle Sounders FC credit for joining them and going so minimalist. It's nice to see a club "roll the dice" and buck tradition.  

[upperV03]

You don’t need the name in your crest for it look good, as their Cascadian rivals have proven:

 

That said, I do think the Sounders’ new primary logo needs something else. As it stands, it feels a bit empty and more fitting as a secondary logo than the primary.   

[vtgco]

  

9 hours ago, officeglenn said:

https://news.sportslogos.net/2023/09/26/seattle-sounders-new-logo/soccer/

 

2 hours ago, VampyrRabbit said:

There's a mistake with the article with regards the crest history.  It should say 1994 - 2008 for the Orca logo, not 1984 - 2008. The NASL club was folded after the 1983 Season, and a new Sounders club was formed in 1994, with the Orca logo being introduced that year.

Should say 1994-2002 for the orca, and the 1974-1982 logo should also say 2003-2008

[officeglenn]

58 minutes ago, vtgco said:

  

 

Should say 1994-2002 for the orca, and the 1974-1982 logo should also say 2003-2008

 

Thanks for that. I've corrected the infographic on the mothership.

[WestCoastBias]

It's an improvement yet could be better yet better than expected all in one. 

[Digby]

12 hours ago, upperV03 said:

You don’t need the name in your crest for it look good, as their Cascadian rivals have proven:

 

 

I think the difference though is, to keep using the Timbers as an example, axes and chevrons are sufficiently generic that you can utilize them to build up something new. The Space Needle is such an already identifiable piece of specific intellectual property, one whose own brand value far outpaces an MLS team... to use that with little else just could be anything Seattle. Seeing it on a polo shirt might make me think you're in the ticket-selling booth for Space Needle elevator rides. I don't know that the crest needs the name again but it just needs something that can make it more uniquely Sounders.

 

Part of me wonders if there could've been a trick from the Kraken/Whalers playbooks and done a visual trick that combined the Needle with an orca tail or something.

[MJWalker45]

The new logo reminds me of Aston Villa's previous logo. And that's a good thing. 

[Maroon]

13 hours ago, upperV03 said:

You don’t need the name in your crest for it look good, as their Cascadian rivals have proven:

 

That said, I do think the Sounders’ new primary logo needs something else. As it stands, it feels a bit empty and more fitting as a secondary logo than the primary.   

 

The Timber's crest truly is fantastic. Sometimes I forget how good it is.