Horizon League Logo Rankings

[a3uge]

This stemmed from a in-game discussion thread, so instead of staying off topic I decided to move the discussion here. I included a poll, so vote for your favorite (and don't show bias for/against a team).

Given Valpo's new re-branding campaign, I am confident Valpo is now top 1/3 in the conference for logos. Here are the teams:











I will give my ranking from best to worst in a new post.

[okinawatyphoon]

Of course I'm biased, but I REALLY like Valpo's new logo. It is top 3, easily. I also really like Detroit's logo, but it doesn't have its mascot in it.

[blackpantheruwm]

My favorite logo in the League is Youngstown State's Y logo.

[drewsaders11]

The four good logos are Valpo, Cleveland State, Wright State, and Youngstown State, in my opinion. I was between VU and CSU, and voted for CSU. To me, I really like the sternness of the logo, and how he is peering out from the school name. I really, really like the Valpo logo, so it was a hard decision. I would really like the YSt Penguin, and think that this particular Wright State logo looks pretty good.

[CO_VU_Fan]

I like the Valpo Logo, but sometimes cringe at the Crusader - knowing what the live version really looks like.

[a3uge]

From best to worst:

• 1. Wright State- Fluent, unique logo with nice colors. Hard to make a dog like that look intimidating. Font is unique. Great balance between detail and simplicity.
  
• 2. Detroit- Went from having the absolute worst logo in the NCAA to a solid professional looking logo. I love the shield, the font, and even the sword. The colors obviously were changed to match the Pistons and they look very nice. It's unique enough to be memorable but isn't overly sophisticated.
  
• 3. Valpo- Tremendous upgrade from silly looking crusader to an intimidating logo. It may be a bit too detailed for a two tone logo, but it's definitely top three in the league. I love the shield, which makes the logo unique and memorable from other knight logos in the NCAA. I wish we used a little bit different font, because parts of VALPO seem squished and it is fairly generic.
  
• 4.Butler- The bulldog is very epic and provides a good focal point to the logo. The imagery is amazing as the dog is guarding the university. Bulldog logos tend to look generic and similar, but Butler managed to get past this. It was the least detailed bulldog I could find, without losing an intimidation factor.
  
• 5.Cleveland St- I was debating whether to put this in front of Butler or not. I really enjoy this logo and I think it's a hell of a lot better than the old fighting pea guy. The colors match very nice and the font is unique and interesting. It's an intimidating logo, but it can still come off as creepy (peeping tom), and because of that, I have a hard time taking it seriously.
  
• 6. Youngstown St.- I love the penguin, and I love the hat and scarf. I love the uniqueness of the mascot and the penguin itself. The thing that ruins the logo is the god awful typography on the bottom. It completely kills the logo. The black background around the font is embarrassing, and so is the letter sizing. If they centered 'Youngstown' I probably would have them in the top 4. Such potential.
  
• 7. Green Bay- Fairly good logo in general, except not for an athletics team. The phoenix looks like its bleeding from the neck, and with a name like "Phoenix", it's hard not to make an intimidating logo. Green Bay pulled this off. The font is average and well placed. This is another logo with a lot of potential. Their old logo was really bad, and this is an improvement, but could have done a lot better.
  
• 8. Milwaukee- It was actually hard to find this logo, which is being used as their primary on the HL website. It's a big step up, but this is yet another example of how UWM/UW-Milwaukee/Milwaukee is in identity crisis. As far as the logo goes, it's terribly generic. That's what you get for choosing a generic name like the "Panthers" and having generic colors like black and gold. The font itself is generic, and the paw slashes scattered randomly look pretty stupid. I'm not sure why they insist on keeping a round logo, but they broke free from it a little bit by it's inconsistent font path.
  
• 9. Loyola- Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. I'm not sure if this is a logo for a major university or a pre-teen soccer club. It's really bad and busy. It's hard to form an identity around this logo. Even the dog looks terrible, almost as if it were drunk. I'm not sure who though the drop shadow font at the top was a good idea, or the terrible colors, or the terrible use of colors. I don't understand why they decided to go with a serif font on the bottom and a sans-serif on top. Ugly all-around.
  
• 10. UIC- White Blue Red Yellow. That's enough to put this logo last. When you first look at it, you know it's outdated. There's still tons of things about this logo that are bad. The diagonal font, the colors, the rounded blue background, the colors behind the font... I cringe whenever I see this logo. Would not be surprised if it gets totally overhauled in the next couple of years.
  

[drewsaders11]

Good analysis. I pretty much based my choice for top four, and subsequently Cleveland State as my favorite, on how the mascot looks in the logo.

However...I feel Detroit's logo is good, but I don't like it because it lacks anything concrete. All it is is a shield. Couldn't they have implemented their shield like we did somehow?

I don't think the Butler Bulldog is "epic". Sorry.

I pretty much agree with the other assessments. Loyola's four words turn me off. I feel the focal point of UIC's logo shouldn't simply be white space. Green Bay's is decent, but not distinct or powerful enough.

If you haven't voted, Vote! Interesting to see how people feel.

[valporun]

I agree with what was said about the logos for the schools, but I guess I just wonder what else UIC could have done to improve their logo? Flames aren't easy to do anything with, when the flames are the focal point...

[milldew1]

I love the UIC logo. This will sound weird, but it's simple and understanded in a breakout way. The logo - minus colors - is very understated and cool. I personally think the color combo is what works best. I think it's cool.

[crusadermoe]

Logos are all fine except Loyola's. Valpo's logo is really good as many have said.

Big question: Will the mascot be allowed on ESPN again using the lame cylinder helmet and the paper-thin yellow cape? Better worn on a grade school halloweeen costume. Other parts of his costume are less embarrassing.