The Simplification of NFL Team Logos
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triangle, action, conflict, tension; the circle, endlessness, warmth, protection”
(Dondis, 1973, p. 44).
Direction is another compositional element that plays a role in logo design.
Shapes and lines themselves can express directionality: left and right, up and
down, or diagonal. Even though we are studying static logos, there is
directionality. Usually, lines or other visual features that suggest movement
from left to right connote forward momentum or progress. Right to left suggests
retreat. Movement upward, or the suggestion of such movement, is also more
positive than visuals suggesting a move downward, but in general, the
appearance of some directionality is better than no direction at all.
The symbolic aspects of a logo can be quite powerful in terms of fan
identification with a team. One way to think about symbols is in terms of three
semiotic categories: icons, indexes, and symbols as proposed by Charles S.
Pierce (see Wiener, 1966). Indexes look like the thing they represent; therefore,
can be highly complex. Models and reduced-sized images of things are
examples. An index is a residual of something left behind. For example, some
teams (e.g. Clemson) use a paw print of an animal for their logo, an index by
this classification scheme. Indexes can be complex, but tend to be somewhat
simpler than icons. A symbol is an arbitrary human-made convention. Words,
letters, a cross, and similar sorts of marks are indicative of symbolic images.
Symbolic imagery tends to have a simpler look than either iconic or indexical
images. This study addresses much of the connotative element of meaning of
symbols, as well as the other aesthetic features.
Findings
UChicago Bears
The Bears logo is paradigmatic of the sort of historical changes seen in
football logo design. From a detailed representation of a black bear carrying an
orange football from 1940 to 1953, to a smaller version of the bear lying on a
larger version of the football from 1954 to 1973, a transition to the simpler
wishbone “C” design emerges in the 1960s. There is some overlap in primary
logo usage in the 1960s and early 1970s between the small-bear and the white
“C” logo. The change from the black bear to the wishbone “C” was due to the
addition of logos on helmets of professional teams beginning in the late 1950s
and early 1960s. The letter “C” has been the primary logo for the Chicago Bears
for over 40 years and has been the helmet logo for longer than that. In 1974, the
color of the primary logo was changed from white with blue trim to orange with
white trim. The color orange was consistent over the years, with the exception of
the 1962 to 1972 logo. There was a sense of imbalance to the “C” logo because
the bottom portion of the letter is longer than the top portion, hence the opening
is off-center and asymmetrical. This slight imbalance probably was not
noticeable to television viewers, but the simplification of the logo would help
make it easier to notice. The high contrast of the white “C” against the team’s
black helmet would have been an ideal visual for the black-and-white, low