Cleveland Browns lack of identity

[kc51design]

theres a difference between "lack of identity" and not having a logo. identity is so much more than a logo. i doubt you mistake the Browns for anyone else when you see the uniforms or a t shirt in the mall.

typography, color, texture, photography, and supporting graphics (helmet stripe, jersey stripes) make up an identity. as you can see on their website, they manage a strong identity without any logos: http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/ and the biggest reason its so strong is that its managed by, in my opinion, the best creative director in the NFL. they dont have much to work with, but that only opens up more possibilities for ideas. its not a weakness. check the season ticket package from 2 years ago

the only problem here is the use of the helmet as logo, like mentioned. but thats NOT an identity problem, thats a logo problem. i just wanted to make that clear. i dont think the helmet icon is a good solution and neither is the elf. we're talking about a modern professional football team here. these guys dress like gladiators and knock the out of each other. the fan base is called the "dawg pound". they play on natural grass (i think they still do) outside in the mud and snow. a little smiling fairy does not represent any of this. i think they would be smart to adopt the "B" logo full time. They already have a word mark that works well too. i wouldnt change anything dramatic about the uniforms. just wherever you see the helmet icon used, replace it with the B. ditching that out of date icon in favor of the B logo makes the identity stronger without losing anything that is already great about it

Thanks BrandMoorArt, you are actually right. I do agree that they have probably the best design material due to people that work there, and they keep producing amazing material with terrible logo. You won't mistake Browns for anyone else because of the colors, you can also say the same for Seahawks, or Palermo football... but having so many logos circulating and having a bad one being the main, I still think that's called identity. What other team has that many logos (helmet, elf, B, dawn). Someone explained to me that elf is for retro material, B for women, dawn for kids, but still... I'm Cardinals fan, but I like Browns because of great colors and uniforms, and I wouldn't touch that at all. SO whatever we call it, lack of identity or something else, we do agree that they need a new primary logo (and you analyzed it well why elf can't be it) and that they do have great design team.

[CS85]

What's even more bothersome is that they've had this unique and awesome color scheme and widely appealing simplistic style, yet they choose to ignore it by pumping out the lame helmet logo. Just a shame.

[andrewharrington]

I agree that the Browns do not have an identity... but this is not the solution. Try going outside of the box. The Browns have never had an acceptable logo in their history.

This one was pretty good:

[Tygers09]

In graphic design, you are taught "less is more", meaning a simplified direct approach gets more attention. The Browns achieve this with their uniforms; no they don't have a logo on their helmet, but it makes them who they are. Anybody who isn't a fan of football would ask "Who are they?" and any diehard NFL fan would say "That's the Cleveland Browns!". The same goes for their team colors, while not the usual popular of color combinations like Red/Blue, Blue/Silver, Red/Gold, Green/Gold etc., it makes them unique. Some people might think the Brown/Orange is ugly, others might ask what were the owners thinking? But what would you expect from a team who's nickname is Browns?