Repurposing

[RamblinGamblinTiger]

What happens if a college takes a high school logo?

I know for a fact that my high school was using Georgia Tech's Yellow Jacket Logo back in the early 80's and probably longer, and here at CCSLC it says Georgia Tech did not start using it until 1991.

The "Buzz" Yellow Jacket logo was designed in 1985 by Mike Lester according to various sources. Most of the dates listed on the site are accurate, but some are still slightly off...

[Funky Bunky]

What if you take a logo and "flip" it? My high school took the current Minnesota "M", and turned it into a "W".

Would that be considered okay?

[BBTV]

What if you take a logo and "flip" it? My high school took the current Minnesota "M", and turned it into a "W".

Would that be considered okay?

Why not just "design" a W, instead of ganking someone else's and flipping it? It amazes me that schools will teach kids that stealing is wrong, and then just go out and take someone else's logo. Do they teach kids that bit-torrenting is OK but snatching a CD out of a store is wrong?

[Funky Bunky]

What if you take a logo and "flip" it? My high school took the current Minnesota "M", and turned it into a "W".

Would that be considered okay?

Why not just "design" a W, instead of ganking someone else's and flipping it? It amazes me that schools will teach kids that stealing is wrong, and then just go out and take someone else's logo. Do they teach kids that bit-torrenting is OK but snatching a CD out of a store is wrong?

Schools are lazy and cheap.

[BBTV]

What if you take a logo and "flip" it? My high school took the current Minnesota "M", and turned it into a "W".

Would that be considered okay?

Why not just "design" a W, instead of ganking someone else's and flipping it? It amazes me that schools will teach kids that stealing is wrong, and then just go out and take someone else's logo. Do they teach kids that bit-torrenting is OK but snatching a CD out of a store is wrong?

Schools are lazy and cheap.

Then they shouldn't punish their students for demonstrating the same lazy and cheap qualities, like cheating on tests, stealing a lunch from the cafeteria, or just skipping class.

[CDixonDesign]

As someone who works closely with an Athletic Department at the High School level, you'll be surprised how the decision of what goes on a helmet, or a uniform, is simply just left up to the Coach and Athletic Director.

Most of the time it's the coaches decision....and he'll either simply google search a logo and send it to a decal company, or simply use "predesigned" decals that companies offer....

[Raymie]

There's a rather high-profile, new school here that uses the Grizzlies logo with a USF-esque color scheme.

That'd be my alma mater, Basha High School. When I graduated in 07, though, they started moving more towards the B paw logo. Much better, IMO.

You're gooood!

Sadly, that logo is not on their helmets.

I could talk all day about Arizona high schools and their appearance packages, but I won't.

[BlazerBlaze]

What happens if a college takes a high school logo?

I know for a fact that my high school was using Georgia Tech's Yellow Jacket Logo back in the early 80's and probably longer, and here at CCSLC it says Georgia Tech did not start using it until 1991.

The "Buzz" Yellow Jacket logo was designed in 1985 by Mike Lester according to various sources. Most of the dates listed on the site are accurate, but some are still slightly off...

I'm going to guess your talking about Sprayberry. Tech lets schools use the Buzz logo for like 1 or 2 bucks a year. If more schools would do this it would be so much simpler.

As for it "diminishing" the brand, i think thats a bunch of crap, especially at the high school level. Alot of schools here in Georgia use the UGA "G" but I dont see it as diminishing the UGA brand. The black G on a white oval with a red outline is the original (yeah, yeah, Green Bay, blah blah blah. The way I see that is that they share the G. So i guess its the co-original) and all the other versions of it is just the schools paying tribute to it in a way.

Not all districts can afford to get a brand designed for their new schools. Take my old high school Woodstock, we opened in '96 and didnt get a brand package. We just used Washington's W layered ontop of itself to create the double-W for Woodstock Wolverines. (quad-U we called it at times). Sense my graduation we've used the Utah Valley logo in our colors. Our rival school on the hill next to us that opened in the 70s has just used the Philly Eagles logo. Both schools have great and strong identities in the state even with similar logos in the region.(South Cobb uses the Eagle as well and West Forsyth uses the W as well)

The home district has recently opened 2 new high schools both of which they paid for to get an brand package. The Creekview Grizzles and the River Ridge Knights.

Okay, so looking at it now I just realized they just paid somebody to photoshop the Memphis logo, But I still like it better than the RR logo. Creekview has a very strong identity with the logo they've been given where as RR is kinda, well screwed cuz you cant really do much with that...

'nuf said.

[Raymie]

The bane of my existence, a typeface named Trajan. Nice to see at least they have somewhat distinctive logos. I'd suggest the Creekview one for a high school here, but there's only one school in Arizona with Grizzlies as its mascot name. It's Shonto Prep (Div.VI) in the northeastern corner of the state on the Navajo reservation. They'd probably be too small to use something like that, and their current school logo is more appropriate for the region. Apologies for the quality, as these are placed on a dark background on the actual site.

[Quillz]

Chaminade Eagles:

[raysox]

I feel lucky that my school has original logos. Good thing the School opened the year before the Whalers moved to Raleigh, because that Hurricanes logo sucks. However since we're Palm Harbor University HS, we use an edited Miami U in some places

[sc49erfan15]

This is my all-time favorite "repurposed" logo - White Knoll High School in Lexington, SC:

[RamblinGamblinTiger]

This is my all-time favorite "repurposed" logo - White Knoll High School in Lexington, SC:

Wow. Wu Tang Clan? Really?

[See Red]

This is my all-time favorite "repurposed" logo - White Knoll High School in Lexington, SC:

Wow. Wu Tang Clan? Really?

That is awesome! Not really a logo I'd expect to see on a high school football helmet.

[hockey week]

While I understand and accept all of the reasons why schools shouldn't do this, I DO like seeing defunct logos resurrected at other levels. Those logos just sit around in sports history books otherwise, they might as well get some use.

[_RH_]

Somewhere I heard that to avoid copyright infringement your product must be 30% different than the original. Now I have NO idea how you measure 30%, but is there any truth to that statement?

[jstraper]

Georgia, Green Bay, Grambling...interesting story (and related to topic), but what I really wanted to comment on was one specific example of re-purposing. It involved the University of Miami and Union High School in Oklahoma.

According to the article the high school was supposed to phase it out, but it is still being used to some extent (at least as an on-field logo, helmet logo), and even championship rings.

From what Miami staff who were consulted about the matter suggested was that the legal involvement was never to punish the high school (just as is the case with FSU now), but obviously the University determined that enough was enough.

Further, the University's stance was to protect the integrity of the design. Even though the specific "split-U" shouldn't show up anywhere in any color combination outside of the University of Miami, if it does, how can the design standards be regulated (they can't). From what I gathered, that was just as important as having it being "stolen"/reconstituted -- Miami wasn't going to lose money to the "Union U", but of course the school didn't want identities to be confused (even if it did serve as advertising for the University).

It's like Venom rode down from Athens and infected Coral Gables

As you can see, the look is still being used, so a better understanding must have been reached. Further, with what appears to be a Nike-endorsed product with the combination of UGA and UM, certainly this must be an example of how these identities are handled.

For me, I have no problem with a school using a professional team's name. Back when I was in high school I always wondered why my team was using the Atlanta Falcons look, but I assumed that they were given proper approval after expressing interest in using the look. Never could figure it out. Overall I'm always amazed how so many schools just blatantly copy other identities. Where's the creativity?

[OnWis97]

What if you take a logo and "flip" it? My high school took the current Minnesota "M", and turned it into a "W".

Would that be considered okay?

Why not just "design" a W, instead of ganking someone else's and flipping it? It amazes me that schools will teach kids that stealing is wrong, and then just go out and take someone else's logo. Do they teach kids that bit-torrenting is OK but snatching a CD out of a store is wrong?

probably...since an amazing number of people seem to feel that way.

[Gothamite]

Somewhere I heard that to avoid copyright infringement your product must be 30% different than the original. Now I have NO idea how you measure 30%, but is there any truth to that statement?

Not a word.

Common misconception, but 100% untrue. If you start with a logo that isn't yours, it'll never be yours no matter what you do to it.

[hailstateunis]

Georgia, Green Bay, Grambling...interesting story (and related to topic), but what I really wanted to comment on was one specific example of re-purposing. It involved the University of Miami and Union High School in Oklahoma.

According to the article the high school was supposed to phase it out, but it is still being used to some extent (at least as an on-field logo, helmet logo), and even championship rings.

From what Miami staff who were consulted about the matter suggested was that the legal involvement was never to punish the high school (just as is the case with FSU now), but obviously the University determined that enough was enough.

Further, the University's stance was to protect the integrity of the design. Even though the specific "split-U" shouldn't show up anywhere in any color combination outside of the University of Miami, if it does, how can the design standards be regulated (they can't). From what I gathered, that was just as important as having it being "stolen"/reconstituted -- Miami wasn't going to lose money to the "Union U", but of course the school didn't want identities to be confused (even if it did serve as advertising for the University).

It's like Venom rode down from Athens and infected Coral Gables

As you can see, the look is still being used, so a better understanding must have been reached. Further, with what appears to be a Nike-endorsed product with the combination of UGA and UM, certainly this must be an example of how these identities are handled.

For me, I have no problem with a school using a professional team's name. Back when I was in high school I always wondered why my team was using the Atlanta Falcons look, but I assumed that they were given proper approval after expressing interest in using the look. Never could figure it out. Overall I'm always amazed how so many schools just blatantly copy other identities. Where's the creativity?

Union High in Mississippi also uses a recolored version of the Miami logo.