Giving the Big Ten the Attention She Deserves.

[drdougfresh]

I don't know how many Big Ten fans are on here, but I'm sure I'm not alone in this-- the new look for the conference is weak, amateurish, and not very powerful. But really, it's not the design that bothers me the most. If there's one thing that the Big Ten has going for it, it's the name-- and the schools that have given it such a prominent name. Ignoring the schools in favor of a 'trendy' logo was the wrong step to take. The negative space 11 on the old logo was awesome. So, I took matters into my own hands. How do you mention that the Big Ten has 12 teams without calling it the Big Twelve? Here's what I came up with:

And then after they came up with the lame logo, we got divisions. And those divisions (horrible power balance aside) were named the most HORRIBLE names ever. Legends & Leaders? What is this, a summer camp? How about paying attention to the distinct landscape of the schools in the conference? The Midwest. Lakes & Plains. Gee, that took me all of what? Here's the division logos:

As well as patches shown in both dark and light presentation:

LIVE LINKS TO CONCEPTS

Lakes:

Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Northwestern, Minnesota, Wisconsin.

Plains:

Iowa, Penn State, Illinois, Nebraska, Purdue, Indiana.

And with that, I decided also to give the Big Ten a refresh. New uniforms for every school, to announce the coming of a new and improved conference (also, Nebraska and Wisconsin have nearly identical unis). Along with those two new outfits, each school is getting a rivalry game alternate. Those alternates are only worn once that year in the selected rivalry game. Those games are:

Michigan vs. Ohio State

Michigan State vs. Penn State

Nebraska vs. Iowa

Northwestern vs. Illinois

Purdue vs. Indiana

Wisconsin vs. Minnesota

So, sit back and enjoy the show. Plains schools first, then Lakes. Then, rivalry series. C&C welcome, especially when it's got to do with the original post.

[walkerws]

Although a little "thin" I like this. Personally I liked the old hidden eleven logo and would have liked to have seen the hidden 12 but your 12 us a really fresh way to go.

[raysox]

What if the big ten conference broke down into two divisions called Boats, and Hoes. For the great lakes, and farming ofcourse.

I do like the TEN logo though! I did something similar for a LONDON 2012 logo.

[Drakonius26]

Not a bad start, and I look forward to more concepts, but I'm surprised that you decided to place Minnesota and not Penn State in the Lakes Division. I can sort of see why you did, more or less the topography/state's moniker compared to geography. It's just sort of an interesting choice.

[TylerBray8]

I love your new big ten logo. I really can't wait to see the uni's especially the rivalry ones. Great job so far.

[MDC]

Unfortunately, it's been done before. I've seen something with the same idea before. I'll try to find it. I'd still like to see what you come up with for the teams. And your division names are 1,000 times better than what the actual conference came up with

EDIT: Found it

[ESTONES6]

I don't really like the 2/N or whatever that is at the end of the wordmark. I like the idea of adding the 2, but that just looks weird. It looks like someone was sketching out the logo and then fell asleep when they got to the N. I think you should bring the first tail of the N all the way down to match the rest. Then have a straight slant coming from the first leg so it looks like this |\ For the final leg, that is where you can have your curvature for the 2... something like |\) It might convey both the 2 and the N better.

The only other thing is putting Michigan and Ohio State in the same division. I still don't get why people think that is at all smart... it's really a terrible idea. Anyway, that's a discussion for a different thread.

I'm excited to see the unis.

[vicfurth]

The ideas good, but having Penn State like that doesn't make much geographic sense

[andrewharrington]

Not a bad start, and I look forward to more concepts, but I'm surprised that you decided to place Minnesota and not Penn State in the Lakes Division. I can sort of see why you did, more or less the topography/state's moniker compared to geography. It's just sort of an interesting choice.

State College to Erie: about 3:45

State College to Buffalo: about 4:00

Minneapolis to Duluth: about 2:30

Not only is MN the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but Minneapolis is also at least an hour closer to the Great Lakes than State College, which more than justifies it, even if Penn State is out of the way for the other teams in their division. I'm sure the NFC East teams hate traveling to Dallas. I'm sure the PAC-12 teams will hate traveling to Colorado, but they have to. They suck it up, accept it and deal with it.

On to the concept: I think it's particularly off-base to call the new Big Ten brand amateurish. That's really insulting given the caliber of the designers who worked on the project. I don't think it fits the ideals of a major athletic conference, but surely it's not amateurish. This concept, however, is amateurish, which is nothing to be ashamed of, because you are, well, an amateur, more or less. There's no refinement in the type, the '12' is majorly shoehorned into the logotype, creating the strangest-looking 'N' I think I've ever seen. I love the colors you chose, though, assuming it would be a bright blue and a metallic gold to go with the black. The one that MDC posted has the level of refinement that's needed, but it still doesn't solve the problem of the gaping blocks of negative space around the T.

ESTONES6: The reason Ohio State and Michigan are in the same division is so that they can never play each other twice in the same season, let alone twice in back to back weeks, which is how it should be. Texas and Oklahoma don't play twice, neither do Florida and Georgia, or Alabama and Auburn. You should only play your biggest rival once a year in college football. This isn't the NFL.

[ESTONES6]

ESTONES6: The reason Ohio State and Michigan are in the same division is so that they can never play each other twice in the same season, let alone twice in back to back weeks, which is how it should be. Texas and Oklahoma don't play twice, neither do Florida and Georgia, or Alabama and Auburn. You should only play your biggest rival once a year in college football. This isn't the NFL.

I get it... its just a bad idea. Michigan and Ohio State only playing once, at the end of the season is a lot less interesting than the possibility of Ohio State and Michgian playing each other twice in a 2-4 week stretch, possibly ruining the other's hope for a Big Ten Title or having the potential to avenge a loss, in the Big Ten Title game. Same division is Michigan/Ohio State week. Fine. Different divisions is Michigan/Ohio State Round 1, Round 2, Big Ten Title, Revenge, etc. The pros outweigh the cons when it comes to being in different divisions.

[drdougfresh]

Penn State is not a Lake state in my mind. sure, they're close, but Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes. The division title is in their name. Also, to my knowledge, Pennsylvania is not necessarily known for the Great Lakes. But that's just semantics.

To address the OSU-UM issue: Twice a year cheapens the rivalry. Once a year, at the end of the year, for a chance at the title? That means a lot more. If they played twice a year, the early game would mean virtually nothing. Not that exciting.

Raysox: that's an awesome logo, nice work.

And finally, thanks for all the C&C. It's literally my second shot at event/division logo creation, so I think it's a solid start. My basic thought was this: keep it simple, but classy. Perhaps amateurish wasn't the right word to use. I would call it 'meh'. The old logo was perfect, commanding, and powerful. Now it's just boring.

[drdougfresh]

Double post.

[drdougfresh]

Alright, up first is Iowa. I hate that they look just like the Steelers currently, so I changed it up a bit. Got rid of all the white (sans the away uni), and just kept black and yellow. I wanted to keep things looking moderately traditional throughout this series, so your biggest changes will come in the rivalry series.

[andrewharrington]

Penn State is not a Lake state in my mind. sure, they're close, but Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes. The division title is in their name. Also, to my knowledge, Pennsylvania is not necessarily known for the Great Lakes. But that's just semantics.

To address the OSU-UM issue: Twice a year cheapens the rivalry. Once a year, at the end of the year, for a chance at the title? That means a lot more. If they played twice a year, the early game would mean virtually nothing. Not that exciting.

Raysox: that's an awesome logo, nice work.

And finally, thanks for all the C&C. It's literally my second shot at event/division logo creation, so I think it's a solid start. My basic thought was this: keep it simple, but classy. Perhaps amateurish wasn't the right word to use. I would call it 'meh'. The old logo was perfect, commanding, and powerful. Now it's just boring.

That makes more sense. The Iowa look is excellent. Superb. The only things I'd do here are as follows: Gold pants with a black stripe on the home uniform (maybe white pants with a gold and black stripe?). I'd nix the gold outline on the numerals on the away uniform, and I'd add a gold stripe to the black pants.

If you keep black pants as the only option, I'd add a gold stripe to them and go with a black mask because it becomes a more modern look at that point.

[YessSir32]

For your Big 10 logo, I would work on making that 2 looking more like an N. The division names couldn't be better. For Iowa, I would add Gold pants as another option or maybe for the away set. I can't wait to see what you have in store for the rest of the conference.

[TylerBray8]

Iowa looks preety darn good. I would add a yellow stripe on the pants though. Love that number font!!!

[drdougfresh]

I'll see about adding the stripe. I hate the gold pants, never liked them. BUT I may make them available through the rivalry set. Not sure on that yet. And that would be the Atlanta Falcons' number font. Borrowed quite a few NFL fonts for this project.

[drdougfresh]

Added the Iowa updates based on feedback. Penn State will be up tonight or tomorrow.

[ESTONES6]

Are the white parts on the black uniform pieces mesh or some sort of pattern?

[TheOneAndOnlyMau]

I love that Iowa concept...and this is coming from a die hard psu fan and student. The stripes are different but are a nice nod to the current set. The simplicity in the set is great, its a nice, simple, modern looking design that still fits within Iowas identity. Sometimes less is more. Great job.

Ill echo the point that the sleve stripe pattern should be put on the pants, however. Id also suggest having the belt colors match the pants, i think it would complete the sets modern feel and be a little less distracting

Overall, this is what the Big Ten should be like - modernize the league without losing the traditional, classic aesthetic that the league takes so much pride in.

Cant wait to see what you have in store for my Lions!