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The Logo BreakDown - MLS top 5

August 16, 2017

Top Five! Top Five! TOP FIVE EVERYONE!
The U.S. Open Cup Final has been determined and the two teams remaining are Sporting KC and New York Red Bulls of the MLS. So let's start with Major League Soccer and see who's got the best logo.
Take a look below at how I rank the top 5 logos in the MLS and let me know your thoughts!

 

TOP 5 MLS LOGOS

1.  ?
2. ?
3. LA Galaxy
4. ?
5. Atlanta United FC


Coming in at number five is the team I did my first logo breakdown about; Atlanta United FC.

Check out my in-depth analysis here.

Atlanta is the only circular logo to make the list. As I mentioned before, I'm not against circular logos, they just need to be extra creative. I like the bold and two-tone A smack dab in the middle, but what I particularly like about the A is the anchoring of it to the inner-circle. There is only one thing I don't particularly like about this logo, and it is the reason why I didn't make it any higher on my ranking; the two lines in the black circle just seem a bit lost to me. Other than that, I think it's a strong solid logo.

ATLRanking

MNRanking.png

Another expansion team that recently joined the MLS, Minnesota United FC, comes in at fourth on the list, much different than their current standing the MLS Western Conference.
Three main reasons this logo stood out to me.
1. The asymmetrical shield, which compared to all the rest of the logos in the league, its a bit unorthodox; but that is why it stood out to me. It's different and refreshing.
2. Negative space-I love the wing of the loon(MN's state bird) breaking through the shield and the North Star fits perfectly across from it.
3. Finally, color scheme, the only other team to use a light blue in their crest is the Colorado Rapids. However, I would have liked to seen a little bit more of a separation in tones. The blue is nice and subtle, I think the grey just needs to be slightly darker. 


The determining factor in LA Galaxy's logo was the color scheme. Personally I am a big fan of yellow/gold and blue combination, but if I'm being honest, I'm a fan of any light/dark color combination. The use of two-tone gold and two-tone blue, makes this logo really stand out. Many of us would have gone with black rather than blue to portray the night sky, but the dark blue does a good job, and with LAFC coming in 2018, it was a good choice. I'm OK with the font, it doesn't scream space/galaxy to me, but what the font lacks, the star makes up for. Not only does the star fill in the negative space above LA, but it gives us the sense of a night sky full of stars.

LARanking.png

DCRank.png

Here is an example of a great re-brand. Unveiled back in December of 2015, D.C. United updated their logo.

Source

A perfect upgrade from their old logo. As you can see, they got rid of the generic soccer ball. The new modern eagle is a very clean and smooth. Just like the loon in Minnesota's logo, the eagles wings break from the shield. The only thing I wish they would have done, is kept the gold in the star from the old logo and incorporate that into the color scheme.


Even though I cannot stand Clint Dempsey, I didn't let it affect my love for the Seattle Sounders FC Logo. Seattle's badge and colors fact sheet tells us everything behind the logo here.

It is exactly what I have been preaching; a logo that is different, fresh and defines its city. Like Minnesota, Seattle's shield is one of a kind, though the difference here is it's symmetry. There is a clean use of negative space in between inside shield colors and outline border. By doing so, it causes the colors, which are officially called Sounder Blue and Rave Green to really stand out. Not only does this color scheme work really well together, but it clearly represents the bodies of water and forests that define a big part of Seattle. Finally the clean illustration of the Space Needle ties in the most universally recognized wonder in Seattle.

SEA-Ranking Cover.png

Want to know how I rate these logos? Here's a little breakdown:
  • Originality- What makes the logo its own? Does it stand out among the rest, or blend in?
  • Creativity- Is there that special thing that makes it stand out? What sets it apart from the others in a special way?
  • Color Scheme- I'm looking for 1-3 colors, maybe four, at the very most five, if they're used well.

Agree? Don't agree? Leave a reply!

In The Logo BreakDown, Bottom Five, Top Five Tags review, logo, mls, blog, design, soccer, website, squarespace, 2016, logodesign, sports, brand, designer, branding, graphic design, expansion, graphicdesign, graphicdesigner, United Soccer League, USL, Watford, Football, English Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Atlanta United FC, MLS, Major League Soccer, LA Galaxy, Minnesota United FC, DC United, Seattle Sounders FC, Top Five, Top 5
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WATFORD FC


5/10

The Logo BreakDown- WATFORD FC

August 13, 2017

Well after I embarrassed myself on Twitter by confusing a moose with a stag, I decided I'd figure out just what Watford Football Club's logo means. RATING: 5/10

The Premier League is back! I have been anxiously waiting for this season to begin. First game up was the thrilling match between Arsenal and Leicester City, with Arsenal pulling away with the first win of the season. Then Saturday morning madness began with Liverpool and Watford.

While enjoying the match, I was on Twitter thinking about reviewing Watford's logo. Since I was confused about the stag on the badge as a moose, I figured I should probably do some research.

RATING SYSTEM

ORIGINALITY 7
CREATIVITY 3
COLOR SCHEME 5
OVERALL 5/10

Unfortunately, the club history page is under construction and so it was a little bit harder to find the details of Watford's badge. After doing some digging I came across some very interesting facts. For instance, when the team was first founded in 1881, over 100 years ago, the team was actually called Watford Rovers. During their rise through the football ranks in England, their team colors and crest changed quite often. Even their name has changed over time, in 1893, after a couple years of internal conflict regarding the club name, it was changed from Watford Rovers to West Herts. It wasn't until 1898 that the name was changed one last time to Watford when rival club Watford St Mary's folded.

From 1927 until about 1959 their colors were blue and white, then in 1959/1960 they changed to a black and gold color scheme. Following a popular vote by the supporters clubs, the team's nickname was now The Hornets taken after their black and gold kits. It wasn't until 1976, that the gold was changed to yellow and red was introduced to the color scheme. Check out their whole history of kits here. I would rather the color scheme didn't include red, but they do a good job using it as an accent color.

WatfordFC-Colors.png

The logo at one point included a hornet, however, in 1978 it was replaced by a hart/stag, which is a male deer. Reason being, Watford is located in Hertfordshire, England, an area abundant with deer. Lame, I know, I wish they would have stayed with the hornet. For one, they are nicknamed the hornets, by their supporters groups, because they're uniforms and club colors were black and gold. They have the nickname, the support, the uniforms and the colors in their crest, why not adopt it? Granted a complete re-brand would be costly but I think the change would make a lot more sense. Change their kit sponsor too and I mean the marketing campaign practically writes itself, In order to find our identity we had to go back to our roots, or some crap like that.

A hart or stag is a male deer, not to be confused with a moose as I found out this weekend.

A hart or stag is a male deer, not to be confused with a moose as I found out this weekend.

The reason I give it a 7 for originality is mainly for the shape of the shield. We don't see any other team in the Premier League using this unique shape. For the most part, all new badge logos coming out are either ones that already exist or are slightly modified. For instance, I thought Tottenham Hotspur's badge was new, but nope, they used it back in 1951-1967.

If you want more photos of Tottenham's primary kit, head over to soccer.com

If you want more photos of Tottenham's primary kit, head over to soccer.com

As for creativity, it just seems a bit flat to me, not in terms of depth. In a sense that the stag doesn't evoke any emotion from me. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be mean and aggressive, or it's just some lazy deer hanging out in the middle of the nowhere. It would make sense if Watford was known throughout the world as the largest population of deer, but it isn't. And so we are stuck with a simple graphic of a moose-stag, whatever.

I would love to see them do something with the hornet logo they donned back in 1972.

Obviously I mean a version of the 1972 logo, not the exact hornet. It just makes so much sense for them to revert back to this logo and modify it to fit with today's style. The current logo doesn't quite fit the minimalist look, but it is a simple clean design. Which I think we can easily achieve with a hornet still.

This was a quick breakdown but now I'm inclined to try and develop my own version of Watford's logo. Even though I said I don't like the addition of the red, I think I would still keep it in my color scheme, though I might change the shade. The yellow and black are great contrasting colors, so I would definitely keep them. And yes you guessed it, I would get rid of the stag and take a simple modern approach to the hornet and re-incorporate it into the shield.

Watford FC -BEA Rebrand1.jpg
Watford FC -BEA Rebrand2.jpg
Watford FC -BEA Rebrand3.jpg
Watford FC -BEA Rebrand4.jpg
Watford FC -BEA Rebrand5.jpg
Watford FC -BEA Rebrand6.jpg

Straight to the point, if the stag were to be replaced with a hornet, this logo would be in my top five logos in the Premier League. Hmm who are in my top five?.... stay tuned and let me know your thoughts!

RATING SYSTEM
ORIGINALITY 7
CREATIVITY 3
COLOR SCHEME 5
OVERALL 5/10

Make sure you follow me on twitter/instagram for new posts! @designbyalva or click the link at the bottom!
Agree? Don't agree? Leave a reply!


In The Logo BreakDown Tags review, logo, mls, blog, design, soccer, website, squarespace, 2016, logodesign, sports, brand, designer, branding, graphic design, expansion, graphicdesign, graphicdesigner, United Soccer League, USL, EPL, Watford, Football, English Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool
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