Sports uniforms and team logos have always been a particularly flashy showcase for design. Good ones (New York Yankees; Oakland Raiders) hardly change at all. And bad ones can take a long time to get it right (anyone remember the yellow and brown San Diego Padres unis of the ’80s that Steve Garvey said made him look like a “giant taco?”)
Sometimes a logo redesign is done out of necessity (we won’t even get into the shorts—SHORTS!— and collared shirts worn by the Chicago White Sox in 1980). Other times it’s to jump start a team to get them out of a pattern of losing (see the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays, which worked by the way!) And sometimes it’s because the new logo, no matter how good it is, just isn’t going to fly with the faithful fan base (see the 1996-1997 New York Islanders “fisherman” logo.)
Often an old logo gets a redesign simply because, well, it looks old. Recently a few basketball teams unveiled some cosmetic changes for the upcoming season (old logos on the left).
The Golden State Warriors have mercifully retired “Thunder”, their silly superhero mascot since 1997. Finally they’ve gotten back to the essence of the Bay Area and incorporated the iconic Bay Bridge logo with the blue and gold color scheme and a typeface that hearkens back to the region’s gold mining days.
The Orlando Magic have evolved out of the ’90s glitz and glitter years and settled on something a bit more subdued but graphically more appealing and effective.
And the Utah Jazz (talk about a design challenge!) have made some tweaks as well. Let’s see how a change to their color palette affects their win/loss record.
Tell us about the team logo/uniform changes that you liked (or loathed).