Lincoln Plainsmen - Feedback and Ideas Please

[TShaw528]

I like the Tractor logo actually. Color might make it look better, I know you're going for a simple scheme, but maybe a dark red for the tractor or something would help.

[werbear]

Thanks for the wordmark TMXX1. Here are a couple of ideas put together.

[JMurr]

I like your original rifle logo for the helmet and as a primary logo to go with this I like the banner type logo you did with the rifle. I get the concern about political correctness but then how come so many of us agree political correctness overreaches yet we fear it so much that we bow to it even in a forum on fictitious hypothetical sports teams and leagues.

I also like your tractor silhouette. I will however second some of the previous critique that has been given regarding this logo. I think some other elements might help, such as corn fields or maybe the clouds idea. Also I know you were going for a silhouette but I think that color goes a long way. I can only think of a few teams whose logos are only black and white. Even teams like the Raiders use Silver. About the only teams I can think of are the Los Angeles King (NHL), Chicago White Sox (MLB) and the Brooklyn Nets (NBA). The Kings I think still do however feature the color purple in their image. The Nets logo I personally am not fond of and would likewise advise the team that they need to add more color. As far as the White Sox go this is about the only team I think it works for.

[werbear]

Here is a colored version with a sunburst in the background. I think i'm becoming attached to this version. What does everyone else think? Any improvement suggestions?

[werbear]

Here are some samples with the logo on some helmets. The template was created by Mike Kersey.

[Bleujayone]

I was thinkng about an unused logo of an unrealized team in an equally unrealized football league. In the early 1990's the PSFL was just about to kick off when they decided with 10 days to go to pull the plug. The league already had teams and logos ready to go. One of the teams was the Utah Pioneers. Their logo was rough looking (as were all of them) but I like the idea behind it depicting a covered wagon crossed with a race car chasis and modern day tires. It had no horses in front of it and was depicted as speeding off on the side of the helmet as though self-propelled. I wondered how the logo might look slightly modernized. Maybe cross it with the like of the Bowling Green Hot Rods basball team...only for football.

[JMurr]

I like the sunburst/tractor logo. I think of the two helmets the white one works best. Nice work, it was awesome watching this evolve step by step.

[werbear]

Thanks for the complement JMurr. The more I learn about making logos the better the product. Bluejayone I'm not a huge fan of wagons, but could give the speedy wagon a go if you wanted to see a trial run of it.

The wife looked over my shoulder and asked why it would be the Lincoln Plainsmen instead of the Nebraska Plainsmen since Omaha and Lincoln would share the team like Minneapolis-St. Paul with the Twins and Vikings. As always she has a point. So I created a new logo reflecting that change. Any mistakes anyone can see?

[Guest darkpiranha]

Looks great. The one thing I'd consider changing is the red. Right now, it has a strong Japanese rising sun feel to it. Maybe a deep orange or a gold or even a gradient. And at some point you'll need to adjust the thickness of the white lines of the field and the interior oval white line. Right now, they are too thin and cause a sort of vibrating effect when looking at it and when shrinking the logo. Generally, one-pixel lines will eventually be problematic. For this, perhaps try a perspective thickness change, similar to this. http://www.masterfile.com/stock-photography/image/618-01241632/Pattern-of-black-and-white-lines

[werbear]

Changed up the red and tried to get rid of one pixel lines. Thanks a lot to everyone who has been giving advice. This logo is ten times better than what I was working with at the start.

[pianoknight]

I like that you're trying to incorporate a sunburst, but I can't help but feel that you're about to bomb Pearl Harbor.

As Darkpiranha was saying, you might reconsider a red-white scheme. If you aren't going to move away from red, then maybe consider changing the white to another color?

Check out the Nebraska plates from the early 90s. Great branding, IMO with the rolling hills and windmill silhouette. Maybe this will give you some inspiration.

[Guest darkpiranha]

Looks a thousand times better! It's fun seeing this come together. I like the IDEA of the windmill and the clouds, but I think it's too many things going on. I'd still strongly recommend changing the color of the sunburst. I'd think about an orange similar to what Oregon State revealed last week. That's an awesome orange and it goes well with black. I also think you can move the Nebraska Plainsmen words out of the oval to down below it. Right now, it's kind of getting lost in there. Now that you have some really strong elements inside the oval, including the NP which refers to the full words, you're okay to move it out. By doing that, I think you can expand the size of the tractor a bit (maybe 20-25%) along with the sunburst and make that part of the logo even stronger. I'd eliminate the clouds, but you can probably still keep the windmill. I'd maybe just make it as tall as you can. If you move the words out of the oval, that'll let you make it almost twice as tall.

[werbear]

Took the name out and changed the sunburst to the Nebraska plate's orange. Grew the tractor and the windmill.

[Guest darkpiranha]

Better! I think I'd still leave the tractor in the middle of the sunburst and push the windmill off to the side and shrink it down a bit.

[JMurr]

I think the tractor is to big now. I agree move it back to the middle see how it looks and then maybe scale it down.

[appleclock]

It's looking better and I like the addition of orange to it.

I just think there's way too much stuff going on for this to be an effective football logo that would go on a helmet. Football logos seem to be pretty simple in terms of scope, since the logo goes on a small surface and that becomes the main identifier for that team.

What about just the tractor or just the "NP" wordmark in front of the sun?

[werbear]

Couple of different versions. What elements do you like best?

[JMurr]

I hear the concerns about too much going on but in my opinion I like the one with Chimney Rock, the tractor and the windmill.

[Guest darkpiranha]

My vote would be for #2, followed by #3. Too much going on in #1, not enough in #4.

[Guest darkpiranha]

One other thing I'd be curious to see is what it looks like if you offset the sunburst and tractor to the left a bit on #2. Might make it too lopsided, but might also give it a more dynamic feel. And I think you can add the NP back to the lower half of the oval. It's isolated enough in the black to where it's not really cluttering anything up.