NFL 2010-2011

[Quillz]

Those new conference trophies looks weird... Not bad, just weird... Will they really be all silver, save for the colored conference letter?

[Gothamite]

I think you're looking at the conference championship logo. These are the trophies:

No colored conference logos.

[IceCap]

Well if there's one good thing in this new slew of re-branded NFL properties, it's the new Conference trophies. The old ones were sub-par.

[Quillz]

I think you're looking at the conference championship logo. These are the trophies:

No colored conference logos.

Yup, I was... So many logos at once, I got confused. Actually, I kind of like the new looks the playoff logos have. Still weird, but hey, I'll get used to it...

Well if there's one good thing in this new slew of re-branded NFL properties, it's the new Conference trophies. The old ones were sub-par.

I agree. The old ones were really, really busy, with a background of football players, a flat base, the letters, etc. These new ones are like mini Vinces, a lot simpler and a lot cleaner in design, I think.

Does anyone have a link to this NFL Style Guide in a .PDF format? It must be available somewhere if more and more things keep getting leaked/posted from it.

[John in KY]

Paul Lukas posted the whole kit and kaboodle on Uni Watch this morning. Taken directly from the Style Guide:

New playoff logos:

Blandness reigns for the playoff logos

[TheOldRoman]

While I am not a fan of the old conference champ trophies, these are worse. I would go as far as saying the package just revealed is astonishingly horrendous. Not a single good thing was produced. I mean, they completely fell in love with the guitar pick banner logo (screams football), yet they replace the respectable playoff logos with a :censored:ing gradient steel football outline with writing underneath it? Really, really poor work by the NFL.

[Quillz]

While I am not a fan of the old conference champ trophies, these are worse. I would go as far as saying the package just revealed is astonishingly horrendous. Not a single good thing was produced. I mean, they completely fell in love with the guitar pick banner logo (screams football), yet they replace the respectable playoff logos with a :censored:ing gradient steel football outline with writing underneath it? Really, really poor work by the NFL.

From what I've seen of bits and pieces of various style guides, there's (obviously) a huge push to get the NFL brand front and center, which these new logos do. Look at the old playoffs logos, for example: They were long and rectangular, had a small NFL logo, an equally-sized wordmark, and then the year. The new logo simplifies the whole thing, enlarging the NFL logo, putting it in the center and then putting a graphic around it, dropping the year. If their goal was really to get the NFL brand more prominent, then the new logo accomplished its purpose. It doesn't need to scream "PLAYOFFS" like the old logo because the only time you will see that logo on the field is during the playoffs. (Although I can't recall if the old playoffs logo was ever painted onto fields.)

[vmd9]

I just think those postseason logos will look really strange painted on the fields. I think the trophies are an upgrade and match well with the Lombardi Trophy

[CubsFanBudMan]

I look forward to the day that the stars in the captain's patch will be placed inside an endzone-font "C" -- wait, no I don't. They should lose those things once and for all.

As for the new conference logos... they're fine. NFC's change is barely noticeable and I understand why they did what they did with the AFC. We all saw that coming (although after seeing them, I wonder what four stars lined up on the right side outside the "A" would have looked like).

The conference trophies don't really do it for me. I think it diminishes the Super Bowl trophy's status a bit. I mean, placed just-so in a trophy case could give the impression that a team has a lot more Super Bowl titles than it does, especially considering that the Super Bowl champ will get a mini-version two weeks earlier.

[Quillz]

I look forward to the day that the stars in the captain's patch will be placed inside an endzone-font "C" -- wait, no I don't. They should lose those things once and for all.

Oh, that's what those are. I thought they were a clothing manufacturer's label.

[Gothamite]

From what I've seen of bits and pieces of various style guides, there's (obviously) a huge push to get the NFL brand front and center, which these new logos do. Look at the old playoffs logos, for example: They were long and rectangular, had a small NFL logo, an equally-sized wordmark, and then the year. The new logo simplifies the whole thing, enlarging the NFL logo, putting it in the center and then putting a graphic around it, dropping the year. If their goal was really to get the NFL brand more prominent, then the new logo accomplished its purpose. It doesn't need to scream "PLAYOFFS" like the old logo because the only time you will see that logo on the field is during the playoffs. (Although I can't recall if the old playoffs logo was ever painted onto fields.)

I think there's another factor at work here - web reproduction. The old Playoffs logos look terrible at small size. The new ones can be reproduced at virtually any size without losing the design.

[TheOldRoman]

It doesn't need to scream "PLAYOFFS" like the old logo because the only time you will see that logo on the field is during the playoffs. (Although I can't recall if the old playoffs logo was ever painted onto fields.)

The PLAYOFFS banner was on the fields for the first two rounds, and the logos for the championship games. If a logo doesn't scream playoffs, why even have it? The only purpose is merchandising, really. At least there was something to the old logos. The new playoff logos are basically the shield with the game title underneath it and an abstract silver gradient loosly shaped like a football. This is so minimalist that they might as well just have them paint the words "playoffs" underneath the NFL logo on the field. Why even bother coming up with a logo if this is their intention?

[Quillz]

It doesn't need to scream "PLAYOFFS" like the old logo because the only time you will see that logo on the field is during the playoffs. (Although I can't recall if the old playoffs logo was ever painted onto fields.)

The PLAYOFFS banner was on the fields for the first two rounds, and the logos for the championship games. If a logo doesn't scream playoffs, why even have it? The only purpose is merchandising, really. At least there was something to the old logos. The new playoff logos are basically the shield with the game title underneath it and an abstract silver gradient loosly shaped like a football. This is so minimalist that they might as well just have them paint the words "playoffs" underneath the NFL logo on the field. Why even bother coming up with a logo if this is their intention?

Because it appears the NFL is moving towards simpler, standardized graphics. I think the preseason logos illustrate that point... See how all the new preseason logos use the same shape and the same color? Standardization makes it easier to media reproduction on various mediums, so I can only assume this was the NFL's main intention. Easier reproduction = easier to put onto merchandise = more money.

[Harmening]

I'm a fan of all of the updates.

[Billy B]

I like the new conference championship trophies. I don't think they needed to change the trophies, but what they did was goodand nowthe NFL has a very consistent brand that looks pretty good all around.

[illwauk]

I'm a little iffy about the Green & Gold stepping away from the, well, the green and gold (as I am with any team so tied to its colors), but if they're going all-out old-timey with these throwbacks, it could be a sweet one-off for Thanksgiving or something.

True, but they did win their first six titles wearing blue (EDIT: correction... five of their first six) and it's because of their dominance during that era that they're the only remaining small(ish) town team left in major pro sports. Those are good enough reasons for me.

Besides, I keep thinking that with no way to salvage their current look, maybe the next best thing would be to make a green version of the classic Lambeau unis (actually... that would be MUCH better than what they have now). Hopefully this is a way for the team to test the waters for such a switch.

[IceCap]

Besides, I keep thinking that with no way to salvage their current look, maybe the next best thing would be to make a green version of the classic Lambeau unis (actually... that would be MUCH better than what they have now). Hopefully this is a way for the team to test the waters for such a switch.

I keep holding out hope they go with aborted Wolfe uniforms from '94.

[BBTV]

The new conference trophies look more like high-end office desk decorations that everyone chips in for and gets for the boss for boss' day or Christmas. It's got Things Remembered written all over it. Not that it's not classy looking, it just doesn't look like a traditional sports trophy. Not that the old ones were great, but I'd like to have seen something a little less "glassy" maybe.

Who really cares about the playoff and preseason logos? Seriously. I get it that we care about every logo, but I never heard anyone posting "omg the playoffs are here! we get to see those sweet logos again!" Other than the Conference and SB logo changes, the rest of them are the most innocuous changes possible.

[The_Admiral]

I'm a little iffy about the Green & Gold stepping away from the, well, the green and gold (as I am with any team so tied to its colors), but if they're going all-out old-timey with these throwbacks, it could be a sweet one-off for Thanksgiving or something.

True, but they did win their first six titles wearing blue (EDIT: correction... five of their first six) and it's because of their dominance during that era that they're the only remaining small(ish) town team left in major pro sports. Those are good enough reasons for me.

Besides, I keep thinking that with no way to salvage their current look, maybe the next best thing would be to make a green version of the classic Lambeau unis (actually... that would be MUCH better than what they have now). Hopefully this is a way for the team to test the waters for such a switch.

What were the Lambeau-era uniforms like vis-a-vis the current ones or the '96 ones? That could be cool, as long as they're green and gold. I'm just wary of doing the New York Titans all over again, you know?

[illwauk]

They wore a few different styles during the Lambeau-era, but the ones considered the "classics" were what the Packers wore for their '94 throwbacks... except the pants actually matched the helmets. Hopefully they'll get that right this go-round.