American Outlaws - Baton Rouge Chapter Logo

[GeauxColonels]

I'm involved with a group down in the Baton Rouge, LA area that has organized an official chapter of The American Outlaws. For those who don't know, The American Outlaws is a national supporters group for the US National Soccer team. As such, I've begun designing a logo for the chapter and have gotten it to a point that I'm very pleased with. But I wanted to share it with the community here in hopes that I can polish the design before finishing it up.

First off, a little background:

[1] The Primary logo is inspired by the flag of the City of Baton Rouge which features shield containing a fleur de lis representing French influence, a castle representing Spanish influence and the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew from the flag of Great Britain representing British influence in the area as all three nations once owned the area that is now Baton Rouge.

[2] The colors were modified to match those found in the official logos for The American Outlaws...which is found in the shield in place of the British crosses.

[3] I simplified the fleur de lis and castle to make the logo better for screen printing on t-shirts and other items for the chapter. Also, I decided to keep both the fleur de lis and castle as

a ) the fleur de lis is an instant identifier for Louisiana and

b ) the castle somewhat resembles the Old State Capitol building in downtown Baton Rouge:

[4] I added a red "ribbon" on the shield to represent the Mississippi River which flows alongside the city. I did attempt to switch the colors in the shield and ribbon so that the ribbon was blue; however, most members preferred the red ribbon and blue top of the shield.

[5] The area code for the Baton Rouge area - 225 - was incorporated on the fleur de lis by member request and, therefore, will not be removed.

[6] The secondary logo is a representation of the current state capitol building in Baton Rouge - which is the tallest building in the city:

[7] The name "Red Stick Outlaws" has been chosen by the group over other ideas such as: AO - Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge Outlaws, American Outlaws de la Baton Rouge and a few others. For those that don't know, "Baton Rouge" translates to "Red Stick".

There you have it, so, here's the concept. And, well, let me have it. C&C please!

[GeauxColonels]

So, no one? I can't imagine that this is nearly on par with some of the stuff other guys on here come up with. I'm definitely looking to make this better. One thing I'm not too sure about is the white stroke around the fleur de lis and castle in the primary logo. It almost makes it look too cluttered but without it, the black stroke doesn't stand out from the blue background. Any suggestions?

I can try to make the image bigger if that would help. Again, any C&C would be greatly appreciated.

[omnibus]

Dude, I wouldnt change a thing. Every time I see one of these "how do you like it" these fools nit-pick the crap out of it till it is way worse than the original.

You know what looks good, your gut said go with this, and I personally think it is great. Creative, screams Baton Rouge and simple, by simple I mean classic and clean. My advice, go with it.

[GeauxColonels]

Dude, I wouldnt change a thing. Every time I see one of these "how do you like it" these fools nit-pick the crap out of it till it is way worse than the original.

You know what looks good, your gut said go with this, and I personally think it is great. Creative, screams Baton Rouge and simple, by simple I mean classic and clean. My advice, go with it.

Thanks. I do appreciate that. And I really do like the two logos. I think the wordmarks could use some upgrading though...I'm just at a loss for ideas on that end.

[fumbler]

I'm involved with a group down in the Baton Rouge, LA area that has organized an official chapter of The American Outlaws. For those who don't know, The American Outlaws is a national supporters group for the US National Soccer team. As such, I've begun designing a logo for the chapter and have gotten it to a point that I'm very pleased with. But I wanted to share it with the community here in hopes that I can polish the design before finishing it up.

First off, a little background:

[1] The Primary logo is inspired by the flag of the City of Baton Rouge which features shield containing a fleur de lis representing French influence, a castle representing Spanish influence and the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew from the flag of Great Britain representing British influence in the area as all three nations once owned the area that is now Baton Rouge.

[2] The colors were modified to match those found in the official logos for The American Outlaws...which is found in the shield in place of the British crosses.

[3] I simplified the fleur de lis and castle to make the logo better for screen printing on t-shirts and other items for the chapter. Also, I decided to keep both the fleur de lis and castle as

a ) the fleur de lis is an instant identifier for Louisiana and

b ) the castle somewhat resembles the Old State Capitol building in downtown Baton Rouge:

[4] I added a red "ribbon" on the shield to represent the Mississippi River which flows alongside the city. I did attempt to switch the colors in the shield and ribbon so that the ribbon was blue; however, most members preferred the red ribbon and blue top of the shield.

[5] The area code for the Baton Rouge area - 225 - was incorporated on the fleur de lis by member request and, therefore, will not be removed.

[6] The secondary logo is a representation of the current state capitol building in Baton Rouge - which is the tallest building in the city:

[7] The name "Red Stick Outlaws" has been chosen by the group over other ideas such as: AO - Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge Outlaws, American Outlaws de la Baton Rouge and a few others. For those that don't know, "Baton Rouge" translates to "Red Stick".

There you have it, so, here's the concept. And, well, let me have it. C&C please!

The only thing i'd probably change so you can see them better are the area code numbers on the FDL, they are too small put them in an arc around the FDL or on the petal parts.

I have just done some designs for jerseys and such for a fantasy soccer club on CCSLC in the USA called Les Rouge de Sportive Association. crkraider is fixing them up check here for now and i'll give you a look when they're fixed. post #94

[GeauxColonels]

The only thing i'd probably change so you can see them better are the area code numbers on the FDL, they are too small put them in an arc around the FDL or on the petal parts.

I have just done some designs for jerseys and such for a fantasy soccer club on CCSLC in the USA called Les Rouge de Sportive Association. crkraider is fixing them up check here for now and i'll give you a look when they're fixed. post #94

Thanks for the feedback. I've already tried the "225" on the petals but they just look really forced in place there. The text definitely comes across better as the image is larger...but I'll look into putting the digits in a different spot...maybe on the castle.

Anyone have any input on the fleur de lis or castle specifically? As I said before, I feel like I pretty much had to add a white stroke around the black so they stood out more.

[aawagner011]

Woah man, I'm the VP of the Atlanta chapter! Small world. As for the concept, looks very good, represents both the city and the national organization. One thing I would suggest would be to rethink your wording on the logo so that it clearly states "American Outlaws" and not just "Outlaws." That way, from a marketing perspective, people not in the know about AO will clearly be able to identify who we are. It will help to lead people to your chapter easier and find you online. Just a thought.

[GeauxColonels]

Woah man, I'm the VP of the Atlanta chapter! Small world. As for the concept, looks very good, represents both the city and the national organization. One thing I would suggest would be to rethink your wording on the logo so that it clearly states "American Outlaws" and not just "Outlaws." That way, from a marketing perspective, people not in the know about AO will clearly be able to identify who we are. It will help to lead people to your chapter easier and find you online. Just a thought.

Good point. I'll see if I can't work in the "American Outlaws" name in there somewhere. I may try it like others have as "American Outlaws - Local 225" which will also allow me to eliminate the "225" from the fluer de lis since it's so small.

[GeauxColonels]

Updated the logo with new wordmarks. I like the idea behind them, but I'm just not sure if they're too "busy" or not. C&C please.

I'll also be working to add in "American Outlaws" somewhere in the logos...just trying to decide how.

[BrandMooreArt]

great job on the research. i feel like theres just way too much going on here. too many ideas in one place. take away the color and theres not much unity from mark to mark.

their Baton Rouge flag logo/crest isnt a great design to begin with so just giving that a modern update of sorts, isnt really a step forward. i suggest taking 1 element (flur de le, castle, capital building, whatever) and working with that. the flur-de-le is something that can probably stil be incorporated into a logo at a small scale.