Montclair State new logos

[jefrsn]

Looks like another Phoenix Design template identity. Typeface treatment looks all too familiar. Face of bird looks like St. Joes. The only thing original looking is the youth mark.

[Korkie]

I like the colors and how they applied them, but the adult bird itself is just another generic flying hawk logo, nothing special. The young bird is very well done and cute as the dickens!

[Brian in Boston]

Face of bird looks like St. Joes. The only thing original looking is the youth mark.

Oh, please... give me a break.

Hmmm... Montclair State University's mascot is the "Redhawk", while Saint Joseph's University has a "Hawk" for a mascot. I wonder why the depiction of the mascots in their respective logos might resemble one another? Oh, yeah... both schools have hawks for mascots!

Frankly speaking, you can bust Phoenix Design Works' proverbial "balls" over a lot of things, but the face of Montclair's "Redhawk" looking like that of Saint Joseph's "Hawk", or this Montclair logo having nothing original about, aren't "crimes" of which PDW is guilty.

If anything, PDW has gone out of its way to try and differentiate between the two hawks. The heads of the two hawks are held at different angles... the length of the Montclair mascot's neck is exaggerated, while that of the Saint Joseph's mascot is truncated... the beak of Montclair's hawk is open, while that of the Saint Joseph's mascot is closed... the rendering of the feathers in the Montclair logo are far more detailed than in the Saint Joseph's logo... the positioning of the wings and the flight posture aren't similar... the fonts used in each logo are decidedly different. I mean, given the fact that the mascots for both schools are hawks, I don't see how much more PDW could have done to give each school a unique mascot.

The worst thing about we "logo geeks" being critics is that we ALWAYS feel we have to critique something... even if it means ignoring the facts about the logo(s) in question.

Hey, do I consider this particular logo one of my favorites? No. However, I am willing to judge a logo based on its merits, rather than pre-conceived notions about the designer.

[KCScout76]

At least the youth mark is orginal . . . but wait a minute, looks like the "blue bird" in my daughters bedtime book -

[NJTank]

Ahh ole Alama Matter

Little too cartoony for me I liked the old logos better, seeing the logo reminds me of the truck red hawks express a truck that had the best food on campus. They had great popcorn chicken ahh the memories, it was right in fornt of the building where I took some Journalism courses and across the way from the TV studio where I did most of my otehr classes.

Yum yum

MSU class of 2000

[fiasco!]

Ahh ole Alama Matter

...where I took some Journalism courses and across the way from the TV studio where I did most of my otehr classes.

Yum yum

MSU class of 2000

i hope i'm not the only one that's laughing my ass off right now!

[NJTank]

BTW at one time MSU was known as the Indians at the time it was Montclair State College but around 1990 or so it became Red Hawks.

and I produced a TV special about Montclairs 1970 Football Championship they won the Knute Rockne Bowl and were some sort of CHampions it was before D-3 but they were teh Champs of this type of school

I had video of the Championship game and interviews with the players.

It eveen aired on pulic access. Woo hoo

[NJTank]

So Im a bad typer if I wanted to I can eidt it but this is a relaxed forum where taht aint supposed to matter.

[jefrsn]

Face of bird looks like St. Joes. The only thing original looking is the youth mark.

Oh, please... give me a break.

Hmmm... Montclair State University's mascot is the "Redhawk", while Saint Joseph's University has a "Hawk" for a mascot. I wonder why the depiction of the mascots in their respective logos might resemble one another? Oh, yeah... both schools have hawks for mascots!

Frankly speaking, you can bust Phoenix Design Works' proverbial "balls" over a lot of things, but the face of Montclair's "Redhawk" looking like that of Saint Joseph's "Hawk", or this Montclair logo having nothing original about, aren't "crimes" of which PDW is guilty.

If anything, PDW has gone out of its way to try and differentiate between the two hawks. The heads of the two hawks are held at different angles... the length of the Montclair mascot's neck is exaggerated, while that of the Saint Joseph's mascot is truncated... the beak of Montclair's hawk is open, while that of the Saint Joseph's mascot is closed... the rendering of the feathers in the Montclair logo are far more detailed than in the Saint Joseph's logo... the positioning of the wings and the flight posture aren't similar... the fonts used in each logo are decidedly different. I mean, given the fact that the mascots for both schools are hawks, I don't see how much more PDW could have done to give each school a unique mascot.

The worst thing about we "logo geeks" being critics is that we ALWAYS feel we have to critique something... even if it means ignoring the facts about the logo(s) in question.

Hey, do I consider this particular logo one of my favorites? No. However, I am willing to judge a logo based on its merits, rather than pre-conceived notions about the designer.

I am not a fan of every school having a similar look. When I say that phoenix uses template design, I mean their typ etreatment is always the say. they use two or three different fonts and treat them the same in every design they do. For example, this Montclair type is the same they used for Sacred Heart.

This is just one example of many. I am a fan of modernizing the existing logo when possible. Keeping a school's tradition alive, like Wisconsin or UConn have done. When I first saw some of Phoenix's work early on, I liked it. Then every design they came out with looked the same. They are able to sell this to many schools, so they deserve credit for that.

[rtrich11]

I wonder why the depiction of the mascots in their respective logos might resemble one another? Oh, yeah... both schools have hawks for mascots!

Love it.

I read comments from folks in like this all the time. Say a concept uni has a black helmet and a red jersey. Half the comments are "looks like the Falcons". There can be a hundred differences, but a few people see black, red, and then it's stuck in their heads: Falcons. Nothing else. No other comments. I just stop reading and move on.

In defense of Jefrsn, the faces do have a similar "style", but not enough to call this unoriginal.

This design is much better than St. Joe's.

[artvandelay]

This is just one example of many. I am a fan of modernizing the existing logo when possible. Keeping a school's tradition alive, like Wisconsin or UConn have done. When I first saw some of Phoenix's work early on, I liked it. Then every design they came out with looked the same. They are able to sell this to many schools, so they deserve credit for that.

I agree. The typface is the same on every design. I do like the youth mark but the primary marks are the same cookie cutter approach. The primary also was way too much detail in the wings. The Squareslab Serif font is used in probably 95% of their work. If I was paying someone thousands to rebrand my school, I would want a little bit more customization and creativity, that's all.

[nitroseed]

That is actually the work of Joe Bosack, not Phoenix Design Works.

[Brian in Boston]

That is actually the work of Joe Bosack, not Phoenix Design Works.

Good God, Brad! You mean Joe Bosack is now "ripping off" Phoenix Design Works' "cookie cutter" approach to producing logos?

(If you're reading this Joe, you should know that I'm a fan of your work... and I know you didn't rip anybody off.)

Well, I guess we can now all agree that the Montclair State and Saint Joseph's primary marks AREN'T the result of the "always the same", "cookie cutter" approach to design. After all, not only are the renderings of the hawks and the fonts for each school decidedly different from one another... they were created by DIFFERENT FIRMS!

Bottom line? They don't look all that similar to begin with.

[slapshot]

When Phoenix was mentioned as the creators of this logo, it didn't sink in right away. Phoenix logos definitely have a certain look to them, and its wordmarks are very similar, but this hawk seemed to detailed to be one of its logos. I don't think Phoenix would have made all those feathers on the wings, they would have been simplified further. Not that it's a bad thing either way.

[Brian in Boston]

... but this hawk seemed to detailed to be one of its logos.

Actually, I've always felt that a somewhat excessive use of detail was a hallmark of Phoenix Design Works logo packages.

[NJGiantsfan#1]

NJTANK as a fellow New Jerseyan I have just one thing to say

[Avenger]

New Jersey: The Armpit of America

[NJTank]

No thats just Newark

[nitroseed]

Nothing beats Florida: the penis of America.

[NJTank]

Or as Homer called America's Wang