New College Logo

[pcgd]

Ok, I don't want to drag up the whole Native American Logo thing on here. (I'm sure its been done before) But, my alma mater, Carthage College, has the Redmen/Lady Reds as their mascot. (Interesting side note: The name is actually derived from when the college was in Carthage, IL. The High School there is known as the Blue Boys. Therefore the College took the name of the Redmen. Over the years, the Native American association took over)

Now, naturally they have gotten some heat over this issue over the years. As a final project, I created a new identity for the College. I wanted to keep some traditions. The colors, the logo as much as I could, the RED name. Therefore I came up with RedHawks. The old logo had a Feathered C (ala Utah) so hawks worked perfect.

Anyhoo, what I have is parts of the final project. I created a whole package for it but some of its kinda boring. Anyway, just wanted some feedback. I had gotten some from members of the Carthage Community but wanted some outsider feedback.

The logos:

And a webpage I did:

Carthage RedHawks

Any feedback would be awesome!

Peace.

[udonkey]

I'm impressed by the thoroughness of your presentation. Definitely an inspiration for those of us starting out.

[DAJackson7]

Very nice and as stated above, very thourough. One of my favorite touches is that the feathered C is in the wordmark as well as a stand alone option. I sympathise with the plight of the matter as well since the lcoal university here (not my alma mater, i went to a rival school) is trying to change their Indians name to something else that still involves red and black as the colors and Redhawks is one of the front running names, even though they had Fighting Okra in top ten. but very nice work, kind of reminds me of Temple though.

[MilTownMVP]

Nice logos, but I don't think Redhawks is the route to go. Ripon College in Wisconsin is already the Redhawks (also formerly known as Redmen) and since they play each other reguarly, I'd think they'd want a more unique name.

But I can assure you Carthage was never in Illinois. I'm not sure how you "move" a college anyway. They actually got the name Redmen because their arch rival, Illinois College is the Blue Boys.

That's not to take away from your work though. I'd definetly use your logos if I was an AD.

[pcgd]

Actually, Carthage WAS in Carthage Illinois. The moved in the early 60's becasue the school was losing money. All four classes (freshman-senior) were moved from the old campus to the new lakeside campus in kenosha. I did some research for my fraternity on its beginings and they were started on the Old Campus in the fifties before the move.

Yes, the Blue Boys with Illinois College is also true. But in the media guides they mention the Blue Boys of Carthage High School as the reason.

Lastly, the thought with Ripon had occured to me. But, we actually don't play them as much as you'd think. Once a year in maybe 4 sports tops. But it would be something to think of if they were going to do a change.

Thanks for the comments. Just wanted to correct you quick on the location thing.

[MilTownMVP]

My fault... I thought you were saying they physically moved the campus over the state border (see what finals week does to you?).

I always thought Carthage was in the Midwest Conference along with Ripon and the Blue Boys, but I just now looked it up and found out that wasn't the case either.

Still... Redmen to Redhawks just seems so default. I'm all for keeping Red in the nickname, but it seems like every school that was known as the Redmen is becoming the Redhawks.

Maybe you could tweak your bird to look like a Cardinal and call them the Redbirds... just a thought.

[WideRight]

Carthage is in the CCIW with Augustana and a lot of Illinois schools. They don't play Ripon regularly, but I agree that RedHawks is a little close to Ripon College, and just done to death by teams switching from Redmen.

How about...

Red Menace

Red Army

Redbirds

Red Devils

Redemption

and my favorite...

Red Rum (redrum! redrum!!!)

[Avenger]

With the name Carthage, maybe there's potential to base the identity off of the Roman's arch-enemies.

[the_cynic]

Very very nice! There's a lot going on in the main logo but overall it's looks really well. How long did it take you to spit this out?

[Sterling84]

Quick couple of things.

When I was a freshman at UWM...Carthage College didn't have a pep band and would borrow ours. My buddy played trumpet and got to play a good deal of Carthage's home football games....which worked out nice cause UWM doesn't have football.

At that time, I dont know about now, Carthage had the honor of being rated the worst football team in North America. I didn't know they ranked all the way to the bottom...it just struck me as funny that they used the north america term. Extra slap......"yeah, you couldnt even beat anyone in Canada, Newfoundland, Puerto Rico...........nowhere!"

anyway, VERY professional and nice looking concept. Layed out excellently. I dont like the Hawks face. The logo seems to have borrowed the mascots face. Doesn't fit.

And like others have said, RedHawks is done to death AND more importantly.....doesn't mean anything. Its one of those amalgum names. How about RedTails?

Otherwise, terrific work sir. Welcome aboard!

[nitroseed]

My first comment is that this is very similar to the Temple Owls logo as far as pose is concerned, and I believe the claws are taken straight from the logo itself with some modifications. This is the Owls logo:

If you actually -sell- this logo to the school, I might advise redrawing them. I'm not calling this a ripoff, because it's clear that you did a great deal of rendering on your own. And the work you did is very well done. The presentation, as others have said, is very commendable. So, overall, I'd say well done, with a couple of technical caveats.

[pcgd]

Thanks for all the comments!

I actually played football at Carthage. We still aren't all that great, but I doubt they are the worst anymore. I've heard they also had the distinction of being a top ten party school in the 70s until the campus went dry. Rumors, Rumors.

I agonized over the RedHawks name myself. I have a dozen sheets of paper with different names on them. Because it was a school project, all those thoughts went through my mind, but I threw them out the window.

Actually one of my favs was the RedScare. (The name of the cheering section a few years back) I started doing some menacing looking eyes that just ended up looking like the No Fear logo. Then tried to do a Dance Macabre thing (best way to describe it) but, it was back to the drawing board.

Yes, there are similarities to the temple logo. While doing this I looked for inspiration all over the place on the Internet. Some of it probably rubbed off on me. Another thing is when I work I have a large palatte in Illustrator with many different elements. I may made the temple claws for an idea, and then forgot where they came from later. When I look at them side by side, it almost pains me now. You're right, if it were to be sold it would be back to the drawing board now. (Of course the current logo is a exact copy of the RedSkins logo, as well as pretty similar to the Utah Utes) I mean, there are so many bird logos out there that its hard not to compare anything to another one. One of the most unique ones I've ever seen is the North Central College logo.

Although its not all that great, and I'm sure that they've taken it from someone. Most D-3 logos are.

The final presentation is actually a result of me trying to get a job. I had done the logo, and my professor suggested the full out presentation for my portfolio. With alternatives, and all that. Well, I got a job at an agency in St. Louis and they told me this is pretty much exactly the way a logo would be pitched to a customer. Which is pretty cool.

Someone asked for the time commitment. It was in a couple stages, and I can't remember honestly how long it took. It was actually one of my longer projects just because there was so much illustration in the wings and it was alot of trial and error. The presentation went surprisinging quickly though. Once I knew how I was gonna lay it out, it went rather quickly.

Again thanks for the comments.

Peace.

[artvandelay]

I think there is way too much detail in some parts of the design. When that Carthage is shrunk down it will virtually disappear. I'll be honest, the logo doeasn't do a whole lot for me. I would like to see a little more ferocity rather than the cartoon look it has now.

[shiznit1083]

It's a really solid logo, i must say. I think the lines on the head need to be cleaned up a bit more and not have the line just cut off, it should point at the end. Other than that, great job and presentation.

[JamesCraven]

I like it! As for that North Central logo, that could have passed for a new Arizona Cardinals helmet insignia.

[reppact]

Great logo and package.

One thing I noticed is that your head of the logo is very similar to the Indiana Firebirds logo. As is your representation for mascot similar to Spike from the Firebirds too.