OKC NBA to announce nickname, logo, colors September 3

[Gothamite]

If you look at the situation rationally, you cannot blame Clay Bennett for moving the team. It was going to happen one way or another if the situation remained the same, and the local and state politicians sealed the team's fate. End of story.

True.

But you can blame Bennett for lying about it. An honest owner might have been able to do something about the local and state politicians that the Sonics' dishonest new owner didn't try.

And, just to stay on-topic, the logos uniformly suck.

[MVP]

Comment from underconsideration.com/brandnew:

If the name doesn't make you shake in your seat out of electrifying excitement neither will the logo, not even with lukewarm blurb about it: "With a nickname denoting energy and power, a classic-look logo, and the colors of an Oklahoma sunset […]". Perhaps the most misguided, dispassionate and lackluster professional sports logo produced in recent time. There is nothing unique, memorable or thunderous about it and the cornucopia of elements thrown in there never make a cohesive whole. Quite dispiriting to see a blank-slate opportunity missed so harshly.

Niiice.

[McCall]

jersey wordmarks:

The wordmark seems okay, although I'm afraid of seeing bright colours.

Hopefully the jerseys can save the logo.

That's what I'm hoping. So far, the script looks nice.

I was kinda hoping that they'd use the OKC from the "logo" as the jersey wordmark. I think standing alone on a jersey that slanted up OKC in white stroked in navy on light blue with a small number in the same color combo to the bottom right of it could look ok. can someone mock that up???

I really wished they'd have at least seperated the Oklahoma and City word like they did when they had the Hornets jerseys. Two words on top of each other reaks of semi-pro basketball.

If they could at least match up the fonts, it'd be slightly better. They have "Thunder" in one font, with "Oklahoma City" from the redundant version of the primary also in the same font, but "Oklahoma City" on the alleged uniform marks is in a different font, and it looks horrific when compared to the other wordmarks that are actually the same. Just another bit of lackluster follow-through on the part of the newest and worst branding ever.

[nitroseed]

The customer is always right.

I can't even begin to tell you how wrong that is.

We as designers are consultants. We're not meant to be a crayon for a client that can't draw his wonderful vision himself. We are there to advise, to educate, to do our job and that means making sure the customer doesn't shoot himself in the foot. Doing that means doing market research, studying competitors, studying past and current design trends (and knowing when to avoid following them), studying local culture (in this case), and a myriad of other factors. There is such a thing as a bad client. A GOOD client entrusts his brand to the firm and allows them to do their job. A bad client micromanages. I personally do not work with bad clients, and I tell them this (in more tactful terms) up front. I make sure they understand what my job is, what my function is, and what my responsibility is as the designer, and if they can't accept that, I don't work with them.

I've compared it to other industries in the past. Would you tell a doctor how to perform surgery on you? Would you tell a plumber how to install your plumbing? Would you tell a pilot how to fly his plane? No, because they have training on how to do their jobs and do them effectively. The same applies for design. You can say, "well, art is subjective," and you'd be right, but this isn't art. It's business. And our job is to tailor a brand to work best for a business. The client is welcome to tell us about their industry and their position in it, but it's our job to find out the best way to promote that business, not the clients. That's what we do. That is our function and our job.

In cases like this, you can't tell if a brand is successful until the team is a year in and you have hard numbers to see how well merchandising has done. Sports is a rare creature because the identity is essentially one-half of the product (the other half of course being the team and how they play), so if it sells well, then it didn't really fail, did it? That doesn't save it from being fundamentally bad design (off balance, too many fonts, awkward perspective, unclear meaning, etc.), but that also doesn't mean it's a failure. If people in OKC support it, then the firm did their job and the focus groups were right, and we can all laugh at the city of OKC for having horrendous aesthetic taste.

Bottom line is, clients are not always right in our field. I can tell you from experience, having done over 4,000 logos in my career (no exaggeration). As soon as you bend to your clients' wills without giving them any advice or trying to show them a better and more effective way, you're no longer a designer; you're a crayon.

[McCall]

The customer is always right.

I can't even begin to tell you how wrong that is.

We as designers are consultants. We're not meant to be a crayon for a client that can't draw his wonderful vision himself. We are there to advise, to educate, to do our job and that means making sure the customer doesn't shoot himself in the foot. Doing that means doing market research, studying competitors, studying past and current design trends (and knowing when to avoid following them), studying local culture (in this case), and a myriad of other factors. There is such a thing as a bad client. A GOOD client entrusts his brand to the firm and allows them to do their job. A bad client micromanages. I personally do not work with bad clients, and I tell them this (in more tactful terms) up front. I make sure they understand what my job is, what my function is, and what my responsibility is as the designer, and if they can't accept that, I don't work with them.

I've compared it to other industries in the past. Would you tell a doctor how to perform surgery on you? Would you tell a plumber how to install your plumbing? Would you tell a pilot how to fly his plane? No, because they have training on how to do their jobs and do them effectively. The same applies for design. You can say, "well, art is subjective," and you'd be right, but this isn't art. It's business. And our job is to tailor a brand to work best for a business. The client is welcome to tell us about their industry and their position in it, but it's our job to find out the best way to promote that business, not the clients. That's what we do. That is our function and our job.

In cases like this, you can't tell if a brand is successful until the team is a year in and you have hard numbers to see how well merchandising has done. Sports is a rare creature because the identity is essentially one-half of the product (the other half of course being the team and how they play), so if it sells well, then it didn't really fail, did it? That doesn't save it from being fundamentally bad design (off balance, too many fonts, awkward perspective, unclear meaning, etc.), but that also doesn't mean it's a failure. If people in OKC support it, then the firm did their job and the focus groups were right, and we can all laugh at the city of OKC for having horrendous aesthetic taste.

Bottom line is, clients are not always right in our field. I can tell you from experience, having done over 4,000 logos in my career (no exaggeration). As soon as you bend to your clients' wills without giving them any advice or trying to show them a better and more effective way, you're no longer a designer; you're a crayon.

Amen, brutha.

[mfoster]

[Ez Street]

Hey Marc, can they get Ali Landry to be their hot spokesperson?

[BawlmerOreos]

The customer is always right.

I can't even begin to tell you how wrong that is.

We as designers are consultants. We're not meant to be a crayon for a client that can't draw his wonderful vision himself. We are there to advise, to educate, to do our job and that means making sure the customer doesn't shoot himself in the foot. Doing that means doing market research, studying competitors, studying past and current design trends (and knowing when to avoid following them), studying local culture (in this case), and a myriad of other factors. There is such a thing as a bad client. A GOOD client entrusts his brand to the firm and allows them to do their job. A bad client micromanages. I personally do not work with bad clients, and I tell them this (in more tactful terms) up front. I make sure they understand what my job is, what my function is, and what my responsibility is as the designer, and if they can't accept that, I don't work with them.

I've compared it to other industries in the past. Would you tell a doctor how to perform surgery on you? Would you tell a plumber how to install your plumbing? Would you tell a pilot how to fly his plane? No, because they have training on how to do their jobs and do them effectively. The same applies for design. You can say, "well, art is subjective," and you'd be right, but this isn't art. It's business. And our job is to tailor a brand to work best for a business. The client is welcome to tell us about their industry and their position in it, but it's our job to find out the best way to promote that business, not the clients. That's what we do. That is our function and our job.

In cases like this, you can't tell if a brand is successful until the team is a year in and you have hard numbers to see how well merchandising has done. Sports is a rare creature because the identity is essentially one-half of the product (the other half of course being the team and how they play), so if it sells well, then it didn't really fail, did it? That doesn't save it from being fundamentally bad design (off balance, too many fonts, awkward perspective, unclear meaning, etc.), but that also doesn't mean it's a failure. If people in OKC support it, then the firm did their job and the focus groups were right, and we can all laugh at the city of OKC for having horrendous aesthetic taste.

Bottom line is, clients are not always right in our field. I can tell you from experience, having done over 4,000 logos in my career (no exaggeration). As soon as you bend to your clients' wills without giving them any advice or trying to show them a better and more effective way, you're no longer a designer; you're a crayon.

Actually...the customer's customers are always right. Sorry...

Oklahoma City Thunder Set Sales Merchandise Records In 24 Hours

Thunder Merchandise Sales Sets Records

In First Day After Announcing Nickname

The Thunder "set sales records for the first 24 hours after the Oklahoma City NBA team announced the nickname" on Wednesday, according to Mike Baldwin of the DAILY OKLAHOMAN. XP Events President Alan Fey, whose company is the Thunder's merchandising partner, indicated that "non-game day sales records were established for the company at both the team store in downtown Oklahoma City and online." Fey said of the record sales, "I've been in this business a long time and it's been a pretty amazing experience." Sales also were "brisk Thursday at Academy Sports and Outdoors' three Oklahoma City locations." Academy Regional Marketing Dir David Good said that the chain's stores "are well stocked with Thunder items," with different versions of Thunder T-shirts expected to arrive "in the next couple of days." Good said the Thunder "has its own unique identity that sets itself apart" from the two dominant college programs in the OKC market, the Univ. of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State Univ. Good: "They're pulling from every fan group" (DAILY OKLAHOMAN, 9/5). In Toronto, Doug Smith wrote he was "mildly disappointed" in the logo, but local residents will likely "snap up merchandise like it's going out of style" (THESTAR.com, 9/4).

[RedEye]

The customer is always right.

I can't even begin to tell you how wrong that is.

We as designers are consultants. We're not meant to be a crayon for a client that can't draw his wonderful vision himself. We are there to advise, to educate, to do our job and that means making sure the customer doesn't shoot himself in the foot. Doing that means doing market research, studying competitors, studying past and current design trends (and knowing when to avoid following them), studying local culture (in this case), and a myriad of other factors. There is such a thing as a bad client. A GOOD client entrusts his brand to the firm and allows them to do their job. A bad client micromanages. I personally do not work with bad clients, and I tell them this (in more tactful terms) up front. I make sure they understand what my job is, what my function is, and what my responsibility is as the designer, and if they can't accept that, I don't work with them.

I've compared it to other industries in the past. Would you tell a doctor how to perform surgery on you? Would you tell a plumber how to install your plumbing? Would you tell a pilot how to fly his plane? No, because they have training on how to do their jobs and do them effectively. The same applies for design. You can say, "well, art is subjective," and you'd be right, but this isn't art. It's business. And our job is to tailor a brand to work best for a business. The client is welcome to tell us about their industry and their position in it, but it's our job to find out the best way to promote that business, not the clients. That's what we do. That is our function and our job.

In cases like this, you can't tell if a brand is successful until the team is a year in and you have hard numbers to see how well merchandising has done. Sports is a rare creature because the identity is essentially one-half of the product (the other half of course being the team and how they play), so if it sells well, then it didn't really fail, did it? That doesn't save it from being fundamentally bad design (off balance, too many fonts, awkward perspective, unclear meaning, etc.), but that also doesn't mean it's a failure. If people in OKC support it, then the firm did their job and the focus groups were right, and we can all laugh at the city of OKC for having horrendous aesthetic taste.

Bottom line is, clients are not always right in our field. I can tell you from experience, having done over 4,000 logos in my career (no exaggeration). As soon as you bend to your clients' wills without giving them any advice or trying to show them a better and more effective way, you're no longer a designer; you're a crayon.

Actually...the customer's customers are always right. Sorry...

Oklahoma City Thunder Set Sales Merchandise Records In 24 Hours

Thunder Merchandise Sales Sets Records

In First Day After Announcing Nickname

The Thunder "set sales records for the first 24 hours after the Oklahoma City NBA team announced the nickname" on Wednesday, according to Mike Baldwin of the DAILY OKLAHOMAN. XP Events President Alan Fey, whose company is the Thunder's merchandising partner, indicated that "non-game day sales records were established for the company at both the team store in downtown Oklahoma City and online." Fey said of the record sales, "I've been in this business a long time and it's been a pretty amazing experience." Sales also were "brisk Thursday at Academy Sports and Outdoors' three Oklahoma City locations." Academy Regional Marketing Dir David Good said that the chain's stores "are well stocked with Thunder items," with different versions of Thunder T-shirts expected to arrive "in the next couple of days." Good said the Thunder "has its own unique identity that sets itself apart" from the two dominant college programs in the OKC market, the Univ. of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State Univ. Good: "They're pulling from every fan group" (DAILY OKLAHOMAN, 9/5). In Toronto, Doug Smith wrote he was "mildly disappointed" in the logo, but local residents will likely "snap up merchandise like it's going out of style" (THESTAR.com, 9/4).

This is an example of the bounce you get from the initial announcement only... the key being local residents. The excitement over the official announcement led to this bounce and it is expected that initial sales will be hot for a new team in an already somewhat proven NBA market. Sales over the long term will most likely be proven to lag behind others in the league. This isn't a brand that will have the historical impact or long life that a major league logo should have.

[Conrad.]

thats sickening to hear...i guess its not a complete failure when u can take advantage of poor un-aesthetic saps in OKC.

and a big LOL to Marc, im lovin that comparison.

[Korkie]

but local residents will likely "snap up merchandise like it's going out of style" (THESTAR.com, 9/4).

It is out of style.

[mfoster]

Hey Marc, can they get Ali Landry to be their hot spokesperson?

Hahahahaa!

Actually, Oklahoma City University has plenty of alumni that could be a spokesperson - Kristin Chenoweth, Kelli O'Hara, and three Miss America's (as many as the entire state of Texas)... Just thought I'd pick up the slack and plug my other school since yh! isn't around much these days.

[CubsFanBudMan]

The customer is always right.

I can't even begin to tell you how wrong that is.

(EDITED because it's been quoted enough. I read it all.)

Bottom line is, clients are not always right in our field. I can tell you from experience, having done over 4,000 logos in my career (no exaggeration). As soon as you bend to your clients' wills without giving them any advice or trying to show them a better and more effective way, you're no longer a designer; you're a crayon.

Fair enough. But I choose not to change my opinion. Let me put it another way for you: The person who's putting the money up gets what he wants. If you won't give it to him, someone else will. Same goes for doctors, plastic surgeons, plumbers. If you think the designers had any control over the team releasing this logo, you are mistaken.

Just because you know more than someone doesn't mean they are going to let you do it your way.

I applaud you for having standards and leaving money on the table, but my comment was part of a much larger post directed at AAO's continued trashing of the logo, the city, the team, and everything else he could think of, even though it was clear the Thunder would be his new favorite team if they'd picked his logo.

That part of the post was about having respect, if not for the customer's taste, then at least for the customer's role. It sounds like you have it. And you have 4,000 logos to prove it. AAO doesn't respect that yet. I was trying to help, because I've been there. I'm sure we all have.

None of us believe the customer is always right, but ultimately he/she will get what he/she wants, and crying about it or tearing into the customer won't change that. There's a reason cliches become cliches.

[Gothamite]

Bottom line is, clients are not always right in our field. I can tell you from experience, having done over 4,000 logos in my career (no exaggeration). As soon as you bend to your clients' wills without giving them any advice or trying to show them a better and more effective way, you're no longer a designer; you're a crayon.

Fair enough. But I choose not to change my opinion. Let me put it another way for you: The person who's putting the money up gets what he wants. If you won't give it to him, someone else will. Same goes for doctors, plastic surgeons, plumbers. If you think the designers had any control over the team releasing this logo, you are mistaken.

And there are plenty of people who tell doctors and plastic surgeons and plumbers how to do their jobs, firing them if they won't proceed in line with the client's wishes.

[mfoster]

Not mine...

[eRay]

Not mine...

Hey Seattle, get over it, this is Nacho team!

[bohob]

Here's the thing about focus groups and design. If they ask a bunch of people what their favorite colors for a sports team are, they will primarily get two answers: blue and black. But this would be incredibly boring to have every team be one or both of these colors. Therefore, designers need to make color choices based on the identity, in this case, Thunder. The design may end up being successful in terms of selling merchandise, but that doesn't make the design good. That just means that people in Oklahoma are pumped to have a pro team. The vast majority of the people aren't designers, so they will buy merch if it's ugly or not. Now a good designer needs to think about what colors the divisional opponents, as well as other teams, are using. In OKC's division, you have Portland (black/red), Utah (navy/light blue), Denver (navy/light blue/yellow), and Minnesota (blue/black/green). What this ultimately means is they just chose colors that every team in the division has one of (or something close). Much like the way Minnesota botched not taking advantage of green (exclusive company with Bucks & Celts), the OKC braintrust could have picked a unique primary color such as brown, maroon, or orange (to name a few) and built a strong, unique identity with a western flavor that characterizes the city and state better than the bland, unoriginal, conceptually and technically weak design they chose. I think AAO realizes this, and although he's bitter, someone has to make a stand for the importance of good design. If this identity is any indication of how the franchise will be run, we can look forward to a new identity in a new city in 10 years.

This logo/identity package sucks rectum, and if someone burns a bridge saying it, so be it. It's a small sacrifice for the importance of good design.

[CubsFanBudMan]

Fine, just not sure how bashing the team's move from Seattle -- the very thing that provided the opportunity to create a new identity -- now suddenly fits into the concept of making a stand for good design.

But enough on that. I made an effort.

[bohob]

Fine, just not sure how bashing the team's move from Seattle -- the very thing that provided the opportunity to create a new identity -- now suddenly fits into the concept of making a stand for good design.

But enough on that. I made an effort.

I wasn't referring to bashing the move from Seattle. I was referring to bashing to logo set and color scheme.

[CubsFanBudMan]

The person whose comments you're defending went way beyond that.