Monday, December 13, 2010

The Leaders and Legends aren't on the design team.

The Commish officially named the two divisions of the new BT conference for next football season and after: the Leaders and Legends. Purdue will be a member of the Leaders division. Hated, longtime rival, Iowa will be a member of the Legends division.

While I'm not a big fan of the nomenclature, I'm really not a fan of the new marks. Here's the primary logo:
It's neither classic nor clever, in my opinion...and the color doesn't seem to make a ton of sense either. Thoughts?

Purdue was last on the corresponding promo video.

22 comments:

zlionsfan said...

One of the dumbest things the Big Ten has ever done. The logo is dumb, the division names are dumb ... these Pentagram people are geniuses, because they drove a truckload of poop to Big Ten headquarters and Delany bought it.

Screw them. Those divisions are East and West. Purdue is in the East.

Michael R. said...

These are the same people who probably did that "We are Purdue. Makers, all" crap. You look at the above log then you see what the Pac-10/12 are doing... it borders on insanity. http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2010/07/27/pac-10-remodel-begins-with-logo-pac-12-name-confirmed/

BoilerUpAT said...

This is terrible.........what a retarded concept. Did they hire the "Maker's, All" people to come up with this shit? Well whatever.....

Mommatried said...

Awful. B10 East and B10 West would be just fine, and keep us from looking like major ass clowns. Thanks Delaney.

Kyle said...

While I don't particularly like the "Leaders/Legends" conference deal, I think you're all going off the deep end complaining about the logo.

It's not "Classic"? What the hell does that even mean? Of course it's not "Classic" in that it's brand new. But the solid block serifed letters are a pretty "Classic" statement in the Big Ten. It's also incredibly simple, which is a wonderful thing in a logo. I actually really like the IG = 10 idea. It's not forced, and it's pretty subtle. Thank god they didn't try to stuff a 12 in there.

As for the color, I'm not a big fan of that either, but I'd put money on the fact that baby blue is the best color they could think of that wasn't already associated with a member university and they didn't want to play favorites.

No one will ever like a new logo, until suddenly ten years later everyone hates the new logo.

boilerdowd said...

Kyle, do you honestly think that because letters have serifs, that they are automatically classic?

Further, do you think that this new logo is something that looks like it has its roots in tradition and will stand the test of time?

Design is something I can speak about in an educated manner. I actually do know what the hell classic means in a design sense. I also know that when the simplicity of words are the mark, they need to make a statement in their shape and relationship to eachother. While these might be bold, they're far from classic. They're nearly cartoonish and seem to lean toward something out of the 80s. The color only cements the idea that they're not emblematic of a conference that always harkens to its deep roots...and the deepest history of all conferences.

I'm saying I'll stand by my statement. There is nothing classic about this mark.

J Money said...

The logo is incredibly childish and looks like something I designed in MS Paint.

zlionsfan said...

That's not true.

You'd probably make a better logo using MS Paint.

01Boiler said...

This is pathetic. My first thought too was that this reeked of "Makers All". The promo video was just as pathetic. While I respect the desire to keep the focus on academics, the name Big Ten is first and foremost associated with premier collegiate athletics. The PAC10 video did a great job of displaying this in the aforementioned video. No disrespect to The Man DB, but our video is 4.5 minutes of touch-feely "awe shucks". My condolonces to our southern neighbors who could only find a coach of a really bad NBA team to represent them.

The problem with the Division names is that they are not tangible. Regardless whether georgaphy played a decision in the process, directional alignment is timeless and tangible. Every other major sporting organization is organized that way and it makes sense to promote rivalries. How do you get fired up rooting against those evil Legends?

The logo, also pathetic. Simple, but not at all aesthetically pleasing.

Plang said...

The way they split the conference into divisions, they should have called them the Ying and Yang Divisions. No matter; I'm sure everyone will just start calling them East and West after a while out of laziness.

As for the logo - meh. I remember thinking the old logo with the 11 tucked into it looked stupid when they came out with that. After about 5-6 years I just go used to seeing it and never really thought about it anymore. I'm sure this one will be the same way. That blue is a little annoying thought. I may not get over that.

Purdue Matt said...

Hate it. Hate the sky blue color and rounded letters in the new logo. Really hate the division names. They overthought it. Just awful.

Patrick said...

Somebody drew up a pretty good logo here (look in the comments): http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/2010/12/13/1873907/big-10-division-names-released#comments

I know they are our most hated rival, but it's simple and good.

Boiler_Ditsor said...

The "IG" in "BIG" looks more like a 16 rather than a 10. Maybe this is a hint.

dozer8589 said...

As a creative director in a branding firm, I can safely say that this logo is crap for the following reasons:

1) The slab-serif font is clunky and already looks dated. My biggest issue is the counters of the "B." (For those of you in Bloomington, a "counter" is the little hole inside of a letter.) Forcing square counters into a curved letter creates awkward, uneven line widths throughout the letter. In general, this is just bad, freshman-year type direction.

2) The reverse treatment on the "Ten" gives the word too much emphasis, and forces it to be too far away from the word "Big."

3) I do like the concept of "B10" - it has a cool ring to it.

4) I understand about the powder blue. This is one of the few colors not already being used by a B10 team.

5) Leaders and Legends is a completely different case of assbaggery, but I think it speaks for itself.

Bad, bad, bad, and embarrassing.

boilerdowd said...

Dozer- what'd you study?
You're clearly an egotistical, d-bag designer just like I am...no wonder I like you.

Mackey West said...

I would like to see a Boiled Sports contest where we can submit new logo designs and new names for the two divisions.

dozer8589 said...

bdowd:

Visual Communications Design '87

I remain convinced that they called it that to avoid folks majoring in "VD."

I was sorry to see the barracks go.

dozer8589 said...

Mackey West

Bring it.

boilerdowd said...

I studied in the barracks too- Industrial Design '97.
You were definitely a VD major. My brother and business partner was too.

Mackey West- I'll make it happen.

Purdue Matt said...

@Mackey West,

Same logo as before.

East Division: PSU, OSU, UM, MSU, IU, PU.

West Division: Iowa, UW, NU, Neb, Illinois, Minny.

zlionsfan said...

Whoa there! That's geographically reasonable and preserves most existing rivalries. You, sir, are obviously not familiar with expansion. :)

Mackey West said...

Glad to see the contest is official! I'm no graphic design major but I'm working all angles. Boiler Up.