Team Logo Neon Signs

[Waffles 455]

I've always been fascinated by neon signs, especially the ones at bars that depict sports logos. Lately I've found myself thinking about the kinds of challenges and decisions that go into adapting a logo into this medium. We often talk here about how a complicated or colorful logo would work as an embroidered piece on a uniform, but I don't remember a discussion here about the merits of a particular logo as a neon sign.

It's a proposition somewhat exclusive to sports and beer brands, and there are fairly diverse and creative ways of turning logos into neon. Some work better than others, I think, a lot of which depends on how flexible the original logo is.

From my extensive experience in New York bars, I've always liked the way the Mets logo looked in neon:

I like how the Bulls logo looks too, with the colors inverted:

On the other hand, woof:

Any other good/bad/ugly examples?

[McCarthy 10,932]

Good topic.

There's a bar by my house that uses this and I always think about how bad it looks every time I walk by.

That same bar also has this

which I like.

[Chapeeko 225]

New Era has actually made hats with neon sign logos on them. Link

Some of them actually look good. Some of the other ones though...

[ShlyKBMT 61]

I've always liked the Texans in neon.

[Rambulance 91]

[rcb05 45]

Mavs logo DOES NOT transfer well to neon.

[piratesfan16 8]

The good:

The bad:

and the ugly:

Also, I wonder how this logo would look in neon:

[BigBubba 779]

Good (I just posted links because I'm pretty sure I'd go over the max amount of images):

Yankees

Celtics

White Sox

Tigers

Royals

Braves

Bad:

[charger77 1,557]

[Dbroalexander 83]

I'm a Cubs fan, and I don't like the "walking cub" logo very much, but I do like it as a neon sign

I also think the primary is pretty snazzy as a neon sign

[deliver2david 2]

Nice topic. I think for colleges that don't have that detailed of logos, they look pretty good.

[Dbroalexander 83]

here's a few other good ones

Athletics

Vintage Sabres

Fighting Sioux

Blackhawks

Vintage Blackhawks

D-Backs

[infrared41 5,838]

Cool topic. I love well done neon signs. It's probably a result of growing up back when neon signs were everywhere.

This one is...well...just awful. (And please, spare us the race to be the first one to call "Clevejacked.") Then again, when your logo is a helmet, what do you expect?

I think this looks pretty cool. It manages to capture the essence of the Angels logo.

Not good at all.

This one works because, like the big A, it manages to translate well from the actual logo.

[slapshot 682]

What's wrong with the Ohio State sign? Seems like a good representation to me.

[infrared41 5,838]

What's wrong with the Ohio State sign? Seems like a good representation to me.

Yeah, I was probably a little harsh on that one. It's not like it's awful bad or anything. It just seems bland to me. I think a line of white around the inside of red O would make it look a lot better. Don't get me wrong, if someone wants to drop 500 bucks on one and give it to me, I'll gladly hang it up in my "alumni" room, but I think it looks a little incomplete when compared to the logo it's based on.

[njmeadowlanders 162]

I have a Jets one but it's 2500 miles away, so pictures will have to wait until August...

[MidnightSun 10]

[CDixonDesign 175]

Most of these are pretty interesting. Before labeling a certain logo "bad", really take into consideration the limitations of producing it in neon.

There isn't much room for detail, and "how will this translate into neon signs?" is pretty far down the list of importance when the initial design is reviewed.

[nash61 1,201]

This is all kinds of awesome.

[Lights Out 3,516]

Happily, my favorite teams' logos translate pretty well to neon signs.

This is pretty ugly, though.