High School Logos

[officeglenn]

There's been a lot of talk about bad high school logos lately ? and, after seeing a few of the examples given, justifiably so ? but I figured there must be some good HS logos out there to balance out the bad.

Here's one from Fernie Secondary School:

I figure they must have gotten it fairly recently, though, as it hasn't been integrated into many of their uniforms. The apostrophe kinda bugs me, but overall this is one of the most original logos I have seen period.

If anyone else has got a photo of a good HS logo, post 'em here. Show 'em some DAP, as Mike Wilbon would say.

[KCScout76]

Wow thats a great logo!!! The falcon on the top that is - I love it!

[FiddySicks]

this is my favorite, because its my high schools football logo

not real original but it looks cool on a gold helmet

[devilray2k1]

I admit that many high school sports logos and regular logos are pretty bad. Most never come from professionals...but schoolwide contests or just some image passed down from generation to generation that everyone is attached to.

To tell you the truth, as much as it annoys people like us, who have a perceptive eye for stuff like this as the sports enthusiasts and designers we are, most people DON'T NOTICE or DON'T CARE.

I have been tried of my old high school using an array of 5 different logos, all non-vectored jogs or photocopy's from who knows when ever since I left.

I'm just starting in the graphic design business...fresh college degree and I just landed a decent job at a sign shop. But my dream has always been to run my own freelance business and do you know where I am going to start...high schools. I'm gonna mock up a logo package for a local high school and ask the principal to make a presentation. This is gonna include basic and secondary logos, and sketches for field design, court design, uniforms, stationary, the whole nine! Hopefully they'll like it, and hopefully I'll get a decent check out of it too!

HIGH SCHOOLS is such an untapped market someone with some talent and ambition can really clean up and that's what I plan to do.

[Cyclopsis Joe]

But, unlike..say..the Atlanta Falcons, Podunck High School doesn't have so many millions of dollars to design fields/courts.

When my HS took the idea of a Midfield logo at the Football field, the School Board said it was too expensive, and we're the richest school in the area (besides Southridge..)..

[bhambruiser]

I admit that many high school sports logos and regular logos are pretty bad. Most never come from professionals...but schoolwide contests or just some image passed down from generation to generation that everyone is attached to.

To tell you the truth, as much as it annoys people like us, who have a perceptive eye for stuff like this as the sports enthusiasts and designers we are, most people DON'T NOTICE or DON'T CARE.

I have been tried of my old high school using an array of 5 different logos, all non-vectored jogs or photocopy's from who knows when ever since I left.

I'm just starting in the graphic design business...fresh college degree and I just landed a decent job at a sign shop. But my dream has always been to run my own freelance business and do you know where I am going to start...high schools. I'm gonna mock up a logo package for a local high school and ask the principal to make a presentation. This is gonna include basic and secondary logos, and sketches for field design, court design, uniforms, stationary, the whole nine! Hopefully they'll like it, and hopefully I'll get a decent check out of it too!

HIGH SCHOOLS is such an untapped market someone with some talent and ambition can really clean up and that's what I plan to do.

you sound like me

[Dilbert]

My high school is a purple, white, black, and gray Green Bay Packers logo.

[rtrich11]

I've never seen a Falcon logo like that. Very unique and dynamic. The color green with it makes it look like a parrot, however. Otherwise, that's great a middle school has something like that. I wonder where it came from?

[pcgd]

I'm just starting in the graphic design business...fresh college degree and I just landed a decent job at a sign shop.  But my dream has always been to run my own freelance business and do you know where I am going to start...high schools.  I'm gonna mock up a logo package for a local high school and ask the principal to make a presentation.  This is gonna include basic and secondary logos, and sketches for field design, court design, uniforms, stationary, the whole nine!  Hopefully they'll like it, and hopefully I'll get a decent check out of it too!

HIGH SCHOOLS is such an untapped market someone with some talent and ambition can really clean up and that's what I plan to do.

If you can eat merchendice and survive on 100 bucks (maybe) a logo, be my guest.

Considering schools are dropping art programs, I'm doubting they'll pay money for a sports logo. I'm sure the music students that can't play anymore cause the program was cut, will LOVE that.

You'll make a better living making yard signs for people.

[Brian in Boston]

Unless a scholastic athletic program's identity package is being (1) introduced on behalf of a brand new school, or (2) unveiled as part of a mandated image overhaul (i.e. in the wake of a decision that the current name/logo is somehow offensive), the odds of a school being given the okay to purchase brand-new, logo-emblazoned uniforms and equipment for each and every team, or being permitted to decorate all sports fields and facilities with a new logo, is "slim and none". It's just too expensive an undertaking for most local governments/school districts to undertake.

Don't get me wrong. A graphic designer might well be able to target the scholastic athletic market. However, said graphic designer would have to adjust his/her price-points accordingly, because the school marketplace just isn't going to support the same pricing structure as catering to college or professional athletic programs. As a result, said graphic designer is going to need to capture large swaths of the available scholastic marketplace in order to generate enough revenue to make targeting scholastic programs profitable. Even then, given the overall squeeze that educational spending faces at the scholastic level, I question whether or not most local governments/school districts are going to see any wisdom in spending money on hiring a professional design firm to create identity packages for their schools. It's just not going to be seen as a priority for them.

[slapshot]

Very true.

Even if one was to work pro bono and overhaul an entire school's athletic identity, I think it would be too expensive for most school systems to pay for its athletic teams' new uniforms. And even more for its facilities, like repainting a new logo at center court/ice and resurfacing the court again.

Most schools in my area (metro Boston) seem to upgrade uniforms one sport at a time. It's even pretty common to see different color schemes in the different sports, partly due to budgets, others due to the manufacturer of the uniforms.

[devilray2k1]

All that has been said is quite true

don't get me wrong I wasn't gonna make it my "career" but I was at least gonna try a few proposals

and not all schools are that low on $$$ some high schools that are actually GOOD at sports have lots of $$$ in their athletic programs. My old high school used to be horrible at basketball but in the last 5 years they've gone to state 3 times (making 3rd place once) and has had 3 or 4 loss seasons which has boosted ticket sales, and they've got enough donations and booster program money for chartered buses for out of town games, and tshirts & merchandise, and they've got an Adidas sponsorship for all uniforms and equipment.

I don't know each school's individual $$$ problems but the schools that are good are actually the ones to approach because the $ is IN the atheletic programs..when I played football in high school we had ratty old jerseys from the late 80's (im class of 2001 by the way)...and just ONE 8-1 season and playoff appearance and we had totally new uniforms (coach picked colors and template out of a catalogue) and believe you me they were'nt cheap. We had endzones and midfield painted (i dont know who did it) AND our logoless helmets featured a weird little "R" graphic; coach had huge boxes full of the new decals..and out school was supposed to be one of the poorest in town...

I'm telling you...people will get behind a sports team...you know how nostalgic local high school sports teams can get the community...if the team is good I'd more than likely aporach them that some team that hasn't had a winning season in a decade or something.

AND I know good and well they don't have the type of $ a pro or college team would have for an "identity" but I'm talking selling them the basic graphic. I work at a sign shop and we see this stuff all the time. It's not going to break the damn budget for you to order some helmet decals featuring a new logo, or make a template for field endzone/midfield spraypaint. It's not FREE but it's not that damn expensive.

Now the basketball court, that can get costly I know but hey you can convince a class to give it as a class gift and then use fundraising/donations to pay for it...my graduating class gave a basketball court paint job (which was ugly) as a class gift and the guy who designed it was a classmate's dad.

[slapshot]

You seem to be talking about two specific sports. No matter how successful the basketball team is or how much its boosters donate to fund coach buses, is there enough money to fund new uniforms for the gymnastics, soccer and baseball teams as well? You mention the adidas sponsorship, but does adidas supply the uniforms and equipment for all sports, or just the basketball team?

I'm not trying to rain on your parade..it would be nice if opportunities like this were more prevalent. But the reality is, something like this is very unlikely to happen unless you're creating the identity for one specific team, or you approach a private (think rich) school with your new identity proposals. While a basketball or football team might have donated money spilling out of their new uniforms, the wrestling, swimming or even band (they need snazzy uniforms too) might not have enough in their own budgets to pay for travel expenses.

[devilray2k1]

quite frankly, I wouldn't be in control of WHAT they did with the design...

I'd give them the graphics and they'd pay me for it and if they decide to sit on it then hey that's on them.

I sold a local high school in Baltimore a small simple graphic (actually just a vectorized version of the one they had with like 3 adjustments) for $500 and in 2 years I haven't seen them do anything with it at all but oh well I got paid so I'm not losing any sleep

[markar14]

hey, my school's logo is kinda good, but where did it come from? I've never seen a real team with this logo before:

We're the Stevenson Patriots of Adlai E. Stevenson HS in Lincolnshire, IL , our colors are green and gold.

SHS Web Page

[the admiral]

hey, my school's logo is kinda good, but where did it come from? I've never seen a real team with this logo before:

We're the Stevenson Patriots of Adlai E. Stevenson HS in Lincolnshire, IL , our colors are green and gold.

SHS Web Page

Your school is huge.

[Brian in Boston]

quite frankly, I wouldn't be in control of WHAT they did with the design...

I'd give them the graphics and they'd pay me for it and if they decide to sit on it then hey that's on them.

I sold a local high school in Baltimore a small simple graphic (actually just a vectorized version of the one they had with like 3 adjustments) for $500 and in 2 years I haven't seen them do anything with it at all but oh well I got paid so I'm not losing any sleep

Look, I don't think anyone out here is trying to discourage you... or bust your b@lls.

That said, I think that you were lucky when it came to that scholastic client in Baltimore. There aren't going to be very many scholastic athletic programs that are going to throw money at you to design an identity for them, only to "sit on" the logo once you've delivered it to them. Nine times out of ten, if a scholastic athletic client isn't sure that they're going to actually use a product/service, well... then they're not going to purchase said product/service.

Beyond that, I'm well aware that we live in an extremely "mercenary" age, but I'd like to think that there's something to be said for wanting to truly serve one's clients... help them solve their problems. The "oh well I got paid so I'm not losing any sleep" attitude is only going to get you so far in business... or life for that matter. I'm sure that several of the professional graphic designers out here could speak to this more precisely than I can, but I'd be willing to wager that if the graphic design business becomes nothing more than a means to generating cash flow, it begins to show up in the quality of the finished product.

[Ez Street]

Shawnee Heights High School, Home of the Thunderbirds!

Here are the GOD AWFUL football uniforms. I DISPISE that logo on the helmet.

We used to have cool uniforms, they were very similar to the Houston Oilers. We had a SH on the side of the helmet. Classy, not crappy like the new ones. Damn I wish I had my old #51 jersey from back in the day.....

[Ez Street]

Free State High School in Lawrence, Kansas Home of the Firebirds.

Topeka High Trojans

Topeka West Chargers

[barnesdesign]

Nice Temple Owls ripoff

That head is ginormous