The shield...was, from what i can tell, created only to check the "secondary logo" box on the Nike branding rollout....The same secondary logo, font with meaning, and alternate uniform color are checked boxes in all of the other Nike redesigns of the period.
This is undoubtedly true. And the font is meh, the two-tone is ugly and too-clever-by-half, and the gray is painfully 2014. Then they got onto the logo piece of their paint-by-numbers approach hit it completely out of the park. It's not about the process, it's about the results.
The branding standards resulting from that redesign are about as useless, which is why you won't see the white block I from the grid above used anywhere.
Yeah, it definitely doesn't quite look right and seems unnecessary. Even if it's in the official branding standards I'd agree that it seems unlikely that they'd use the white I anywhere conspicu....
Oh.
The outline of the helmet decal is, my guess, the result of another idiotic Nike-led design process that decided the current primary logo should be used, but the color white should be avoided in the uniforms as part of the two-tone-only, excessively simple look we have now. I am not sure why the decals have any outline at all, other than to use the outlined/curvy block I.
They don't have to! The branding standards clearly indicate that a one-color version exists, essentially with the border and the I merging into the same color. That indicates to me that this border nonsense came from in-house, but who knows.
The university
clearly feels much differently about the block I than those here - making it the primary logo for the university to, "take advantage of the instant global recognition that the block “I” enjoys".
Most schools don't use the same logo for the academic side and the athletic side, as the use cases are super different. IMO the new block I makes perfect sense as the academic side's logo, and that usage would be enhanced by getting it off of football helmets and tailgate accessories and Rivals.com pages.
And by the way, aesthetics are in the eye of the beholder, yes, but I do object to words like "meaningless" and not "relatable" and all that.
Some people just naturally gag on the "oh we took flourishes of inspiration from iconic local sources to design this new lampshade" type stuff, and I'm usually one of them, but it's there, you have to admit it's there. U of I doesn't have the world's most unique college campus architecture by any means, but you think about how those MS columns so literally signify the origin of the name "Fighting Illini" and the reverence the school still has for guys like Grange and Dike Eddleman in a way most schools don't and the visual cues of that time period, it's just there. Two absolute truths are that you stand almost no chance of doing this in a different way without being so Poochie you want to gouge your eyes out and that you couldn't just transport the Shield concept to UCLA or Boston College or any old school. It's amazing they were able to do what they did with such clarity and simplicity.
I gotta shut up about this now, so I'll just close with a couple points.
1. If it were up to me we'd stick with the Chief logo. Let the Chief performance rest in the past, and I don't want to open the whole political pandora's box, but just as a matter of full disclosure, my love for the Shield does not totally blind me. But of course we can't and that's crying over spilled milk.
2. The center ain't gonna hold on the Block I. When it's 2028 and recruits are still using 2003 logos (and they will), change will come. We'll end up in one of four directions:
- Some awful new mascot logo. May I be six feet under before we see the day. I'm saying I'll shut up but one of you is gonna bring up the stupid doughboy thing and make me yell at you.
- The Shield
- A reboot of the slant Illinois concept. You could throw the new font in front of a slightly rejiggered block I and it could accomplish the same stuff the Shield does and be basically no different than those Michigan and OSU logos. Problem solved in the blah-est manner possible.
- Some spin on the old Nike Circle I idea. Which was fine. Think Vandy
Again, fine. Blah.
Those are your choices. Don't pretend you've got choices you don't have.
(PS: Don't think I haven't considered that being the most obnoxious pain in the *** poster on this influential message board with the Shield as my avatar might be.....a risk. A chance I'll take :thumb
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