’ÄúThank you, NHL logo, for flowing so nicely like a mountain stream, my eyes aren’Äôt even tired from the voyage.’Äù

Awesome. Talk about overthinking things JUST a bit. I’ll buy the basic argument that type reads better top to bottom, but this is three letters, and in a combination that pretty much everyone ’Äì even non-hockey fans ’Äì know. So I see no issue here.

This is more of the sporting trend (led by SME Branding, mostly) emphasising movement and dimension. I can’t really complain too much about it. The basic form works without the gradients just as well. I get crazy (crazy, I tell you), when gradients are used to prop up a weak execution, and I don’t think this is the case here.

From a somewhat strategic point of view, this is a smart thing to do. They’ve just got the living crap kicked out of them in terms of brand respect and awareness. If you’re going to reemerge a “new” league (and hopefully the financial agreements in the new contract will permit a healthy bottom line overall), get your marketing ship in order as well.

(Oh, and I’m down with the Duran Duran. Journey, not so much.)

I think they are trying to be more like the XFL…..’Cause you know how good that worked out.

I have to agree with everything stated above, the new direction for the type is horrible.

I like the way the old “L” ever-so-slightly reads as a hockey stick. And I’m not sure about doubling-up the border - looks like they got carried away with the “offset path” command in Illustrator. I agree with Nate, it looks sharp … cut you sharp.

OH MAN! They’re SO innovative! The light direction is coming from the top right… oh, I see now, it’s ingenious! -M

I don’t mind the change in type direction much either. The type was handled better in the new version.

Here’s the good news. The logo can be used for self-defense now (chinese throwing star).

Since we are talking about sports logos … What does everyone think of the new Pistons logo “The new primary logo has some subtle changes, but what a great combination of the Detroit Pistons logo from the Bad Boys era (and before) and our current word mark logo,” said Pistons CEO Tom Wilson.

Hey Nate, I don’t see any gradients on their new one.

I like the secondary logo with the “D” inside the “P”.

If the Pistons’ old logo was the one with the horse and the fire-spitting exhaust pipes, yes, I like the new one better. Nothing really wrong with the horse logo, I suppose. It just seemed more than necessary.

I find it interesting that the horsey logo was introduced when the team wasn’t that good. Now that they’ve been in the NBA finals 2 years running, they revert to a logo that recalls their last championship era.

As for the recommendation that students NEVER use gradients in marks… I think that that is unsound and outdated advice.

Yes, there is no need for it on a typical 1 color application… but most of these old-school “shield” logos are wanting to update their image while maintaining the basic shield shape for brand equity’s sake.

If used thoughtfully and tastefully… they can work quite well. They can also be not so good (ahem… ¬øUPS?)

Modern prepress techniques and new media applications leave many modern consumers wanting more that a flat logo. We all have preferences… but to assume that “you are automatically a terrible designer” if you use gradients is an outdated point of view, IMHO.

Some of the largest and most prestigious branding companies would disagree with you overwhelmingly.

Just my 2 cents, we all have opinions.

Okay… the “brand equity” comment has come up in this listing, and it’s come up many times as of late at my job… care to discuss it?

Umm…some gradients and new color schemes are okay with me. But as previously stated, new and flashly and “optimistic” uphill-reading letters cannot disguise the fact that the new logo is poorly re-tooled. The trendy spikes - dare I call them serifs? - are forced at best. The shield shape itself is not sensitively rendered - just look at the individual beziers. And that’s the problem. The old logo was done by hand, this one was weakly traced with the pen tool and “sharpened”, then given 5 concentric outlines. The new shield looks like crap.
When designing a mark, especially one that features a traditional shape, draw the darn thing by hand first. It will reveal why heraldic shields and other ancient symbols are so often used in logos.

I dont mind the new L to R read. Its the curves that bother me. Look at the way the upper “spikey” curves with withiin the design. Its irritating. Also, the strengthened “point” is unneccessary.

I tHiNk ThE nEw LoGo Is DiFfErEnT fRoM aNy OtHeR lEaUgE……wHiCh Is A gOoD tHiNg CuZ tHeRe IsNt AnY sPoRt LiKe HoCkEy!!!!!!!!!

YoUrS tRuElY, $$$ThE nExT GeNeRaTiOn$$$

No OtHeR sPoRt LiKe HoCkEy? Isn’t Hockey, stripped down to a fundamental level, essentially Soccer-On-Ice? (And really, how much time do people lose when they type like that?)

To Mr. Kerr’s humble remarks above, I vehemently disagree. Gradients and 3-D meshes do not belong in a company’s identifying mark. The problem lies in allowing the technology to dictate the design, instead of the fundamentals of why the mark is created: Clarity, recognition, association, and memorization.

True, many of the design fundamentals we cling to were devised out of the technology of the day, but their established use has since become a part of the visual lexicon of society. We can’t change those rules just because we can. We can’t modify our definitive view of “great design” simply because new technology allows us to.

Simply put, people use gradients because the computer allows them to. Not because it makes for better design. Is this logo for the NHL better for using gradients? No. Would it be better without? If all else remains equal, yes. UPS? Same answers (though we all know we hate the UPS logo out of respect for Paul Rand).

If you are a designer putting gradients in your logos, somewhere along the way you learned better. You know better. And we all have to work for clients with those bad ideas we have to do—but we shouldn’t originate those ideas. Because we know better.

Just stumbled on this here. Looks like you are students of graphic design I assume?

I am not a design student, but there has been something about this logo that has bothered me from day one. Its more of a feel about it, nothing to do with drog shadows, and such.

Is it just me or does the thing look like it’s falling over towards the right??? There is something in the angle of the letters in relation to the position on the shield that makes me thing the whole thing is slightly tilted. Am I the only person that gets this ‘feeling’ when looking at this thing??? I hope folks still read this posting, as no one I talk to about this seems to ‘see’ what I mean.
Im a photographer by trade, and if this was an image of mine, I would be trying to level it. Thanks d