UW fans hate their "weasel dog" logo?

[paynomind]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/loca...license24m.html

Who let that dog out? UW replaces logo on its plates

By Stuart Eskenazi Seattle Times staff reporter

The University of Washington's specialty license plates have been a real bow wow.

The design featured the current Huskies dog logo, a swoopy insignia that alumni denigrate as looking more like a weasel or ferret than an Alaskan malamute or Siberian.

Washington State University's equivalent plate, featuring its way cooler snarling-cougar logo, has outsold the U-Dub's nearly 3 to 1 ? a source of irritation for the Passionately Purple.

On Wednesday, vehicle-licensing offices across the state began selling UW plates with a new design, ditching the dog for the traditional purple block "W."

"Everybody loves the block 'W,' " said Rick Osterhout, a third-generation Husky and treasurer of the UW Alumni Association board. "That's really our main logo. The dog logo is just ugly. I call it 'Techno Dawg.' "

Osterhout refuses to buy any Huskies merchandise with the dog on it. But he did break down once and put the weasel plates on his vehicle.

"When I sold that car, I was quite relieved that I didn't have to have that plate anymore," said Osterhout, who is purchasing the new UW plate for the vehicle he drives now.

With little promotion, the Department of Licensing sold 117 new "W" plates on the first day.

The state began selling collegiate license plates in 1994, with seven schools now represented. The plates cost $40 to buy initially and $30 to annually renew (plus local fees), with $28 of that going to each school's general scholarship fund.

The biggest seller is WSU's plate, registered to 11,649 vehicles as of March 1. The UW limped in a distant second, with 4,307.

Efforts to redesign the UW plate began 17 months ago, with graphic-arts students creating the new look. In August, a small group of campus insiders were surveyed on what they thought of the students' "W" design concept, compared with the dog plate.

"Please, for the love of all that is good and decent, get rid of the weasel-looking Husky logo," one respondent said.

Around the same time, the Alumni Association was polling about 3,000 graduates and 770 current students about which of 15 Huskies insignias dating back to 1920 they liked best.

Only 7.5 percent of the alums chose the current dog logo as their favorite, while students picked it tops. The older the alumni, the more they hated the weasel.

Introduced in 2001, the logo was designed by Nike, a fact that has rankled Huskies who associate Nike with rival University of Oregon because Nike Chairman Phil Knight is a big booster in Eugene.

Although rumors are persistent that the weasel's days are numbered at Montlake, the UW athletic department has yet to announce it is chucking the logo.

Kathy Hoggan, UW assistant director of publications services who coordinated the redesign effort, said she expects the gap between WSU and UW plates to quickly narrow once alumni learn about the new dog-less design.

"We have a long way to go, but it's highly possible we will match Wazzu's 11,000," said Hoggan, who has her own theory on why so many WSU plates are sold. "They have a lot of agricultural equipment to put plates on. Just kidding!"

Huskies concede that the Cougars logo ? the head of a cougar formed by the letters W, S and U ? is one of the groovier collegiate insignias around. But the popularity of WSU plates may have little to do with the logo.

"We're a big, major research university in a small community," said Trevor Durham, communications director for the WSU Foundation. "It's that sense of belonging as an alum that probably drives the license-plate sales. It's all about Cougar Pride."

WSU is redesigning its license plate to spur more sales, which means WSU grads may get to keep goading their westside rivals about being No. 1 in plate sales.

But the plate race isn't that big of a deal to all Cougs, said Matt Baker, owner of Village Pub in Magnolia, a popular hangout for Cougars fans.

"I mean, really, who cares? I'll just tell the kids who play on my baseball team that they'll have more cars to egg that have U-Dub plates on them."

[WideRight]

Wow, I love the "Techno dawg" logo. But, of course, it is not traditional, so people who truly love U-Dub hate it. I can only imagine what would happen if my alma mater, Indiana, ditched the IU logo for a mascot. Heck, they just wanted to darken the red to crimson on all uniforms and half the state of Indiana blew a gasket. There were actually campaigns to "save the red". Change is scary, very scary, ooooooooh, darker red, boo!!!!

[ucnu112]

Looks pretty close to me?.....

[Gothamite]

Change is scary, very scary

That's not to say that all change is good.

Not everyone who opposes a change is "afraid" of it.

This coming from someone who favored changing the Packers uniforms, FWIW....

[IceCap]

Change is scary, very scary

That's not to say that all change is good.

Not everyone who opposes a change is "afraid" of it.

This coming from someone who favored changing the Packers uniforms, FWIW....

I agree, sometimes change is bad. Still, in UW's case, the new dog is an improvment.

[Sec19Row53]

Ohhhh - THAT UW. Nevermind.

[logodawg]

I seriously don't see what is their problem with that logo. I think its classy and sharp looking, amazing since it's sorce is Nike. It's probably the best logo they've created.

And why would they need the graphic arts artists just to slap a preexisting logo on a plate?

[Gothamite]

Ohhhh - THAT UW. Nevermind.

LOL - that was my reaction!

I thought "Bucky doesn't look like a weasel or a dog".

Seriously though, I doubt many UW alums or fans really noticed the change in Bucky.

[hawk36]

I believe the reasons for the dislike of the current Husky logo are twofold:

1. UW is very much about tradition and history whether the rest of the country sees it as so or not. I would liken it to Nike creating a stylized Wolverine for Michigan. It probably wouldn't be greeted with open arms.

2. UWs most bitter rival is Oregon. With Oregon being so tied to Nike, I don't think anything Nike would create would sit completely well with the hard core UW faithful.

IMO the new Husky is well done, but too trendy, 90s looking (Broncos, Texans, Boise State, Falcons, Patriots,... the list goes on and on). Maybe if they keep it for 25 more years, it will bypass trendy and become tradition. But, for the next 10-20 years, it will go from being cool, to normal, to tealesque, to old.

[Gothamite]

I would liken it to Nike creating a stylized Wolverine for Michigan. It probably wouldn't be greeted with open arms.

That's an interesting point. I remember there was an updated badger logo floated in the late 1980s for Wisconsin, but it never went anywhere.

2. UWs most bitter rival is Oregon. With Oregon being so tied to Nike, I don't think anything Nike would create would sit completely well with the hard core UW faithful.

As an Oregon alumnus, I'm embarrassed that this didn't occur to me.

[Survival79]

The pictures are in the link but here are larger versions for posterity:

Old UW Plate

New UW Plate

WSU Plate

[SmoothieX]

I still wish they had the stylized "Washington" centered over Mt. Rainier than the plain, capitalized wordmark off center they have now.

[Cianfrocco]

I still wish they had the stylized "Washington" centered over Mt. Rainier than the plain, capitalized wordmark off center they have now.

You mean other people noticed this, too? Here I thought I was the only one. I love this board!

[MrAsterisk]

I like the dog. The "W" looks terrible.

I was also in the oh-that-UW school of thought when I opened this thread, because Wisconsin's badger with the sweater doesn't look like a weasel or a dog, it just looks bad.

[Brian in Boston]

I'm a fan of the new Husky logo. Phenomenally well-designed and an outstanding update.

FWIW, my uncle is also a big fan of the new logo... and he's a University of Washington alumnus, Class of 1962.

[Moser316]

Fact of life: The new logo is superior. It's a shame that some disgruntled alums can't understand this.

[SmoothieX]

I still wish they had the stylized "Washington" centered over Mt. Rainier than the plain, capitalized wordmark off center they have now.

You mean other people noticed this, too? Here I thought I was the only one. I love this board!

Yeah. I date someone who grew up in Washington. I got to see both of those designs over the years. The old one is definitely superior.

All I can say for my Vermont plates, is they sure are green!

[logodawg]

I will say that I think that the new UW plate is an improvement over the last one, but it more has to do the background than which logo the school used. Having the school logo and Mt. Rainer both as dominant figures is too much IMO.

I still say that the new Husky is beautifully rendered. I could get behind the idea that the alums don't like because of the Nike connection, but only if it was proven that none of them own shoes with the swoosh on them.

[-kj]

The W is fine and all, most schools should have some sort of letter logo. But that husky is top-notch.

Also, am I the only one that thinks the WSU logo is crap?

[brooksdiamond]

I like the new Washington Huskies logo! It's tons better than that lousy Washington State Cougar logo.