Debunking "Leaked" Senators Logo
Friday · May 13 · 2011 | 11:10 AM PDT
I awoke this morning to an inbox littered with emails linking me to the same thing. Apparently someone was claiming to have received the Ottawa Senators' new heritage logo from a Reebok source. One look at it made me laugh.
I had every intention of disregarding it entirely, but the emails and tweets keep coming so I figured I'd be doing a disservice to you, my readers, if I don't explain to you why the logo is a phony. And believe me when I tell you it is.
To see it in its original setting, here's a screenshot from the Tumblr page where it was first posted two days ago. (I'm not linking to the guy's actual page because that's exactly what he wants and people like this don't get my respect. If you really want to find it, you'll find it.)
Fake Senators logo comparisonNow the image itself (right). So many problems... where to begin? I'll make this quick because it's my wife's birthday and I'd rather spend it with her than you guys.
- Just from the small sliver of it we can see in the teaser photo released by the Sens, you can clearly tell it's a fake.
- Top of the shield should be straight and there should be a black outline, even around the red portion of the shield.
- Arial font? Really? Hello, red flag. Show me a designer who would use Arial in a major sports team identity and I'll show you a hack. Plus, it's clear from the photo that the text is not set in Arial.
- The black stroke on the upper left side is misaligned (hard to tell in this scaled-down version, but it is).
- The curved lines of the shield are not smooth at all. Speaking of which, all three of the points of the shield are rounded. That's weak sports logo design.
- The trademark symbol is a little out of proportion and the logo itself is awkwardly positioned within the image. These may not be deal breakers, but come on.
While we've seen some crappy logos from NHL teams in the past, keep in mind that a team like the Senators is surely spending a huge amount of cash on a major design firm. To suggest they would come out with something you could cobble together in Microsoft Word makes me giggle. A lot.
Hope that settles it. Don't believe everything you see on the Internet. If there are any design professionals reading who want to add their input, please comment away!
Reader Comments (16)
Another thing to point out is that the "A" on the fake is half in the red, where on the official teaser, the A is entirely in the black space.
its easy to tell that the A in the teaser is entirely in the black portion of the logo, and its not in the supposed leaked version.
Not to mention there's no reason for Ottawa to create a silly shield like this when they already have an O logo in front of a perfectly good red/black box.
If the final shield logo ends up having an O in it, I still stand by my "silly" comment...especially if the main chest logo is an O (which it should be).
For those more knowledgeable than I (read: most of you): When do teams usually release the proper jersey in a situation like this, anyway? Before the pre-season?
You can also see the angle of the separation between red and black is more acute in the teaser than in the fake. That tells me the width and proportion are way off in the fake.
It looks like the teaser image shows a lace up collar with this shield logo off to the left. Makes me think the shield is going to be a secondary shoulder patch.
@Swaltz That's exactly what I was thinking as well.
For those of you wondering the origins of a shield for the Sens, see here: http://nhluniforms.com/DefunctTeams/Images/Senators2.png
I just hope there isn't a big "O" on this new jersey. I like it as a shoulder patch, but please not on the front. You just know the jokes will be flowing about "zero" this and that... please Sens, please do right by us fans and get a real design team to fix the joke or a marketing team they have. Please!!!
Hey, I actually am the one who made this.
It was just a fun concept, and if you read on my blog, I do this very often.
April fools, I released a fake "press conference" for a kingface jersey for the LA kings next season.
Sorry for the confusion....but hey, you reposted it didnt you?
Hi Curt, that's fair but most of the people who picked up on your "joke" aren't regular readers of yours and don't know that you often like to make things up. The only purpose to my writing this post was to set them straight. Someone had to. Thanks for commenting.
I post for my followers!
I have 350 dedicated followers who love what I do.
Not arguing with you, dude. I'm sure they do. Just pointing out the reason for my write-up.
Plus the A in the team teaser is within' the black part of the shield, whereas the A falls between the the red and black in the phony logo.
I have a hockey book with a crazy looking Sens logo from waaaaaay back that looks similar to the 'hidden' logo I will find an scan asap
You also have to look at the pre-nhl Sens for some clues I think....But I'm sure the debunked logo is incorrect as well.
I love horrible jersey concepts...:)
Horrible patch... You guys should just stop posting/imagining crap versions and wait. I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.
;)