Will Orlando City SC Announcements Address Branding?

[BrandMooreArt]

a quick up-to-date: OCS will be moving up to MLS in 2015. this includes a new stadium in Orlando (next to Amway Center downtown) and a new brand identity. OCS will have 2 announcements to make next week. the first looks like Orlando Health will be the sponsor, or at least a stadium sponsor? not sure how soccer sponsors work. the 2nd announcement i believe will be the reveal of the new primary logo

http://orlandocitysoccer.com/news/?article_id=1650

11-15 UPDATE: OCS just tweeted this picture

update - 11/19

[Berlin Wall]

The MLS needs some purple!

[BrandMooreArt]

also related to the OCS stadium deal, is the Magic's downtown renovation plan: http://www.nba.com/magic/news/denton-city-council-unanimously-approves-magics-downtown-revitalization-plan%C2'>

looks like they want to build a couple of different things here, but mostly it's about moving the Magic's corporate office next to the arena, which is currently just north of the city in Maitland, where EAsports headquarters is also located.

so over the next 2-3 years downtown Orlando will be going through some major changes, and in an area most would describe as the "bad part of town". when people visit Orlando i always tell them "don't go west of the arena". Parramore Ave is bad news. and that's where the soccer stadium will be. from what i've read, Orlando city officials have studied development in other cities, one being Columbus, Ohio and want to follow their leads. the "short north" about 10 years ago in Columbus was run by gangs, from what i hear. today, it's my favorite part of the city.

here are the plots for the Magic's development in blue and the OCS stadium in purple

[ThinMan]

..and a new brand identity.

Finally! That "blob" of lions they've been using as an ID has haunted my dreams.

I was actually wondering to myself while driving just a couple days ago if they were going to(hopefully) go for the full rebrand when they made the leap.

[BrandMooreArt]

..and a new brand identity.

Finally! That "blob" of lions they've been using as an ID has haunted my dreams.

I was actually wondering to myself while driving just a couple days ago if they were going to(hopefully) go for the full rebrand when they made the leap.

yea same here. that logo is scary. i'll be able to talk more about that on tuesday

[Brian in Boston]

SI.com: You told the Orlando Sentinel that there might be some logo or brand modifications when you go to MLS. What do you have in mind?

Rawlins: The colors [purple and red] aren’t going to change. The name isn’t going to change. We’re going to own the color purple. But one of the things we have to change is the logo. We would’ve changed it in a year or so anyway, had we not even been going to MLS. You give the trademark over to the league. So we’ll work on changing the logo in the next few months and probably launch that some time next year. We’ll put a team on it and get working on it. The lion will still be a very prominent part of it. We’ll still be the Lions. Other than that, we’ll wait and see what we come up with.

About the brand, I want to say that last night, that was a defining moment, in my opinion, for the city of Orlando. People know us for the attractions. But there’s a whole city here of young people, young professionals, that want civic pride and pride in their city and don’t want to be going around the world and the only thing they’re known for is being the home of Mickey Mouse. It’s why we named the club Orlando City. There’s a deep need for civic pride and we wanted to bring that in the name.

http://soccer.si.com/2013/10/23/orlando-city-phil-rawlins-q-and-a/

[ThinMan]

yea same here. that logo is scary. i'll be able to talk more about that on tuesday

Does that mean you're involved with it? Or just that we have to wait until Tuesday to see if they do, indeed, unveil and we can commence picking it apart?

[Brian in Boston]

Brandon, you seem awfully eager for next week's Orlando City SC announcements to take place.

Your clients have included adidas, the official athletic sponsor, uniform manufacturer, and licensed product supplier of Major League Soccer... the league that's about to welcome Orlando City SC into its fold. Additionally, you've recently been working on a logo and picking the brain of another talented designer regarding the direction in which your work on said logo has been progressing. As it happens, the logo in question features a lion and a single star. Now, Orlando City SC's mascot happens to be a lion. What's more said mascot and a single star appear on Orlando City SC's current badge.

Now, I'll concede that not all of the colors on the logo you've been working on match Orlando City SC's palette. However, the Purple, Gold, and White do.

So, Brandon... is there anything you want to tell us?

[shaydre1019]

That field on top of the building looks like one of the fields from NFL street.

[BrandMooreArt]

Brandon, you seem awfully eager for next week's Orlando City SC announcements to take place.

Your clients have included adidas, the official athletic sponsor, uniform manufacturer, and licensed product supplier of Major League Soccer... the league that's about to welcome Orlando City SC into its fold. Additionally, you've recently been working on a logo and picking the brain of another talented designer regarding the direction in which your work on said logo has been progressing. As it happens, the logo in question features a lion and a single star. Now, Orlando City SC's mascot happens to be a lion. What's more said mascot and a single star appear on Orlando City SC's current badge.

Now, I'll concede that not all of the colors on the logo you've been working on match Orlando City SC's palette. However, the Purple, Gold, and White do.

So, Brandon... is there anything you want to tell us?

LOL, it's not 100% as i wish it were. i'll be able to say more after tuesday

[GeauxColonels]

Glad to see that they're getting a brand update. The current logo is pretty poor.

[BrandMooreArt]

pretty much as expected today: http://www.orlandocitysoccer.com/news/?article_id=1653

"Having served as the only jersey sponsor during the Club’s history in Orlando, the agreement also means Orlando Health is on the verge of becoming the first jersey partner in MLS history to commit to an expansion club before admittance into Major League Soccer"

[GeauxColonels]

So now that it's official, how much longer will we have to wait in suspense?

[nas1787]

So now that it's official, how much longer will we have to wait in suspense?

For an identity?

[BrandMooreArt]

So now that it's official, how much longer will we have to wait in suspense?

good question. seems i got some bad info. tonights major announcement was that they were officially given the expansion by MLS. what everyone already knew, but i digress.

well, i'll just get into it then because i know OCS didn’t go with my logo But I did get to work on a concept for them and BrianInBoston put the pieces together as I was in that process. So, i’ve been excited to see what they selected and am excited about the MLS team in general, though tonight was a bit of a let down.

From best I can gather the team must have worked/are working with a few different agencies/studios and will select the one they like best. (NOT a contest, I got paid).

I guess it’s worth showing what I did. it's only a portfolio piece now. I worked with Three21 Creative in Orlando on a big proposal but due to a very short deadline I had to nail one good lion design, which is what I wanted to do anyway, rather than the 3 headed design like the original crest. We gave it our very best shot. Animal logos are tough, and I had some good eyes on Dribbble that helped including Fraser Davidson, and as far as I’m concerned what he has to say about logos is gospel and am always very appreciative of his help. This is what the team saw

If there were more time I wanted to do a variation of the colors where a bright blue replaced red. That was something I just thought would work better, then I found this picture of the Magic Kingdom (below) and liked that idea even more. Bright blue seemed appropriate, attractive, and after finding some other uses of blue, purple, and gold I thought it would be a very unique and strong palette.

But now, I’m not sure which version I will show in my portfolio, where the blue in the mane reminds me of water, the red reminds me of flames and that’s just as cool : ) As of right now I have a blue one mocked up with some subtle changes in the teeth and whiskers.

Another idea I had was to do a front facing lion with hints of palm tree leaves in his mane. That was something I was a bit afraid to tackle due to time again, and thought it might be a bit too cheesy for a pro sports team. But still an idea I’d like to revisit in the future.

[shaydre1019]

Thanks for sharing man! Did they give you any guidelines? Or was it basically Purple, Lion, do what you want and get back to us?

[GeauxColonels]

Very nice. I like the blue in the color scheme....but I like the red more.

[ThinMan]

Pretty cool, man, even if they didn't choose yours. I had pretty much put two and two together between you staying quiet after I asked if you were involved and checking out your Dribble page. I think I prefer the blue treatment.

Weird that I kind of accidentally bumped into someone attempting to revamp that here since, no joke, I've complained about it/half-heartedly told my wife that I should just contact someone at the OCS with a revamped version for, like, a year and a half every time we see it in any of the city papers, or on the news, or hear about them on TKS, etc. Guess I waited too long.

[BrandMooreArt]

Thanks for sharing man! Did they give you any guidelines? Or was it basically Purple, Lion, do what you want and get back to us?

Yea that was pretty much it. It wouldnt surprise me to see the new logo with 3 lions though. I think they might prefer an update to the current design rather than a new concept

[BrandMooreArt]

Pretty cool, man, even if they didn't choose yours. I had pretty much put two and two together between you staying quiet after I asked if you were involved and checking out your Dribble page. I think I prefer the blue treatment.Weird that I kind of accidentally bumped into someone attempting to revamp that here since, no joke, I've complained about it/half-heartedly told my wife that I should just contact someone at the OCS with a revamped version for, like, a year and a half every time we see it in any of the city papers, or on the news, or hear about them on TKS, etc. Guess I waited too long.

Thanks. I was waiting til today because i thought they would reveal a logo and just wanted to focus on that rather than an idea that got cut. But i feel bad adter building this up for nothing. Whatever they go with has to be better than what they have now. Hopefully they reveal it soon