In this post, I hope to explain why Oregon State's "Angry Beaver" logo is an eyesore and ultimately a failed brand. Let me preface this by saying I know nothing about logos or marketing. In fact, I have never taken a single course in anything remotely related to business, marketing, or branding. However, I do have a working set of eyes and know which traits they gravitate toward–simplicity, elegance, power.
With that idea in mind, I perused the web this morning trying to better understand why some brands succeed and others fail. Mainly, I looked at corporations. What I found was not surprising. Some of the objectively ranked "best" logos were simple, elegant, and powerful. See if you can spot common traits in these brands, ranked both the best logos and top brands.
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I don't know about you, but what I see in common is simplicity, mostly warm colors (or simple b/w), curves, elegance, minimalism, etc. Let's compare these traits with OSU's logo.
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Simplicity: Fail
Warm Colors: Orange is a warm color, but any positive effect is negated by the brown and black. If you notice the logos above, when they use warm colors they don't use blacks, and if they use black it's paired with white.
Curves: No clean curves on this logo. In fact, it is quite jagged.
Elegance: Fail, quite the opposite, in fact.
Minimalism: Fail.
A company called PSFK conducted a survey looking for common traits of good brands. There were several findings, but the most applicable to OSU is this:
Design – Premium aesthetics coupled with consistent delivery wins every time. A premium experience can be applied to any product or service, no matter where it sits on the price spectrum. Make your audience feel valued, encouraging them to include you as part of their identity.
While that's cheesy marketing jargon, the main point is applicable and valid.
In summary, Oregon State's logo fails because it lacks all traits found in pleasing images. Steps toward improving the University's image should be (a) accept that the current image is in fact a failure (b) understand why the status quo has failed, and (c) invest resources into creating a pleasing and powerful brand.
I encourage those with design, art, and marketing backgrounds to chime in on this topic. Also, email this post to Bob De Carolis (bob.decarolis@oregonstate.edu). Bombard him. We need this fixed ASAP.
in before OS_Beaver
my bad, I meant to click thumbs up not down.
Oregon State’s logo is perfect for a college institution. My friends around the US recognize the Beaver, and are still getting used to the OS. We don’t need to change — the cartoon element is welcoming and beats the cold “O”, which lacks character and originality. Sure it might represent the track, but who cares….? Hardly anyone recognizes UO for their track– they do know Donald Duck. Angry Beaver is great for OSU’s college sports, and the OS maintains the pride for the school — a nice change. I’ve never liked a letter for the logo, it lacks originality. Other schools may have an “O”, but OSU is the only Div. 1 school with a Beaver (I think MIT, and Cal-Tech have the Beaver too, but not Div. 1). Angry or “Raby” Beaver needs to stay. I don’t want Oregon State to change into an Oregon, where they change their logo every year. The Beavs have already had enough change. Leave it alone.
Oregon State’s logo is perfect
I stopped reading here.
How is that image above your idea of perfection?
Jeez, people will rationalize anything.
Its called “branding”. Leave it be. Its recognizable, and unique. Oregon State has finally been put on the map with a decent football team, and everybody wants to change it up now. Change won’t be warranted unless the team starts to lose on a regular basis. I’ll stop coming to your site starting now….good luck with your rants. We need something more positive. You need a vacation.
It’s so good and recognizable that an ESPN season preview for 2010 showed Oklahoma State footage while talking about Oregon State football.
Later in the season, an ESPN highlights show talked about how well the Oregon State Ducks play against USC every year.
I can’t wear the swaled OS ballcap when I visit Texas, because it’s instantly recognized as a retro Okie State cap.
And I refuse to own any angry muskrat apparel, because it’s just plain ugly. On top of that, it’s redundant with no discernible origin. Drop that logo in Times Square and who will know where it comes from? All it is is a picture of an angry muskrat with Beavers written under it in a lousy font. What is that? Is it the Angry Muskrat Beavers logo?
Benny with an OSU cap is timeless and classic. And even though it’s been out of use by the AD, it’s still in use by print media because they like it. It’s recognizable. I walk around with my old Benny shirts and people recognize it as a beaver from Oregon State.
Btw, Nikegon hasn’t changed their logo in 12 years. OSU has gone through three or four different designs during that time while trying to use them all at once.
“Oregon State’s logo is perfect for a college institution.” And for a high school.
Yep – for real.
Any thoughts OSB? :)
FMO!
Obviously, I agree that we need a POWERFUL brand. I have mixed feelings about the Angry Beaver. He has done some good especially compared to when we used to have no logo at all on the field. I tend to think he could be retired because we can do better. Teams like tha Panthers and Jaguars and others show though that you can have an animal logo whether primary or secondary.
However, I do agree that the brown in the beaver is not made for the bright lights of a national power or brand. If it was kept in any fashion it should probably be orange like it currently is on the football helmets. The Beavers script below the logo is redundant and a bad idea and would be better is it said OSU there more like the LSU Tigers.
In all, I think the OS logo is our best current brand. It properly promotes Oregon State and that is a name we want to be out there. It is balanced pretty good but I don’t know about all its elements. It does try to use curves some to be more modern and it could look decent on the middle of a field or court. Think of that logo with checkered endzones and it would be decent and more towards what we are looking for as far as the vibe for our program and brand.
Still, I also agree with Angry that we can do better than that even and it isn’t good enough to really quite be the POWERFUL brand we need. I can only hope that people who understand sports marketing and creating powerful brands will come up with our best option. The Angry Beaver may have slight charm for a certain audience but it isn’t anywhere even close to a POWER brand that top recruits are drawn to (brown is one of the worst colors). Tinker said some type of Beaver redesign might be possible but that would almost certainly be as a secondary logo. The PRIMARY logo obviously has to refer to Oregon State. It should be some type of a design that has OS or OSU. It needs to be strong and really speak that we can be a top performing national brand. With the 21 million we will be averaging and going up against teams that seem more with the times like UO, UW and even Cal, and knowing they are getting brand spanking new football stadiums, we need a POWERFUL brand that is just as sexy, desirable, 21st century, relevant and nationally important. If Tinker can pull all that off we will have the POWERFUL brand we need for Oregon State.
Brown CAN work as a powerful brand; UPS is the second most recognizable logo in the world, brown.
Sorry about the icon Angry. Somehow I got logged out even though that hasn’t happened to me for over a month.
I would just add that it has to be a very confident, aggressive, bold and cocky design. There needs to be nothing Mayberry about it.
I like the checkered endzones idea. I’ve been wanting something to replace our god-awful text for awhile.
Yeah. I think that would make things more festive and grow our support for our colors and brand. Plus it will really put the focus on the brand itself in the middle of the field since that will be our main place we are proclaiming Oregon State through a strong use of OS or OSU or perhaps an updated classic orange O that would look good and readable from every angle. Then get plenty of flags in the upper reaches and allow fans to bring their own flags like the Timbers. We would have our own designs and colors. I have an idea for waving the State flag with the beaver and maybe a star in the NW corner like the one that won the state flag redesign contest in the Oregonian (per flag Honor though the beaver should face and respect the mast. Plus that would have him looking towards the star of the NW). Orange and black checkered flags or orange and white would also be cool or a Cascadia flag.
Check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oregonian_New_Flag_Contest_Winner.svg
DeCarolis just needs to let the fans be more involved and jacking up the energy at every game. Combine that with a new west side and we would have an awesome atmosphere.
I am starting to wonder if we should do Phase 3 first and wait on the Final Phase to see how bad we want and need it. The sight lines will actually be best with just Reser Phase 3 where you get the dramatic structure and sight lines at the edges of the new sides. While I totally hope we get the full horseshoe at some point it is tempting to be able to look at how nice those sight lines could look for maybe 7-10 years before we absolutely needed the full double-decker horseshoe. Just doing the west side though might only get us to 49K seats and not over 50K. I think it would be enough for a little while but does it justify not cutting total costs by getting it all done? Tough to say. But based on the Reser Phase 3 and the Final Phase monikers it seems BDC and designers have plans to do the west side first and wait a bit before we horseshoe in the double-decks completely to arrive at the Final Reser.
That flag looks like someone grabbed the North Korean flag, changed the colors and slapped a beaver on it.
I could see it both all orange or all black with the beaver and star the opposite and it would represent us well as the flagship university of the Beaver state.
Sorry Angry. I now have it set to Remember Me. I will be careful and start looking every time to make sure I am logged in still.
I don’t know/care much about this topic. I like the angry Beaver but I am going to be a fan no matter what the logo is so the logo really isn’t for me. I probably wouldn’t even comment on this subject but bringing up the UofO “O” makes me curious. Does is matter that Oprah (a much bigger brand than UofO) uses an almost identical symbol? I have seen a very similar symbol elsewhere too though I can’t recall off hand. I mean the hardcore Coors drinking Duck fan from Springfield is going to recognize the “O” but a more casual fan might think of another product first. Does this matter at all or does the cross brand symbol only make it a more powerful one?
Obviously we are all fans no matter what the logo is…that line of thinking sort of misses the point.
I think cross-branding helps. Just look to the Ducks ripping off Disney…and now their mascot is everywhere. It’s probably one of the top 5 most popular mascots in college ball. ESPN sure loves it, but they’re owned by Disney, right? Hmm.
“Ducks ripping off Disney?” C’mon, angry, you argue from a more respectable position when you have facts and reason on your side: The Ducks didn’t “rip off” DIsney – they may have taken advantage of a sweetheart deal made long before the power and value of such branding decisions were as well understood as they are today, but they didn’t “rip off” DIsney. Putting it this way makes you look and sound like a sourpuss with a website.
Of greater concern, and I am surprised that no one has brought this up yet, is that we, too, have a shared logo. Unfortunately, rather than sharing a logo with an iconic industry leader as our feathered friends to the south do, we share ours with a West Virginia high school sports powerhouse.
OSU should freelance Google’s graphic artists…they come up with excellent graphics that always fit tone and mood of the occasion.
http://www.oregonlive.com/nfl/index.ssf/2011/05/nfl_draft_undrafted_players_in.html
looks like Pankey isn’t even trying to get on an NFL team. Either that the author left him off the list.
Okay…. You think NFL teams have line where guys wait in line to try out? I am sure he hoping for a call like the other thousand ex NCAA FB
players
This is a really good post.
Off topic:
Cold-blooded. Pac-12 snags Gus Johnson! The Pac-12 is serious about having an aggressive, bold and POWERFUL brand. Beavers need to just follow their lead.
http://www.bruinsnation.com/2011/5/9/2162834/gus-johnson-pac-12-fox
Also make sure our Pac-12 logo is bright with high contrast and with the same brightness/contrast as whatever main logo we come up with. Nothing worse than a faded logo. WSU had that problem all last year and it looked like the Pac-10 was ashamed of them. Then I noticed late in the season the Beavers Pac-10 logo was fading quick and it is unpleasant to look at things on the field with different contrasts and shows very poorly on TV. Could have something to do with rain but why does Oregon’s look perfectly bright/contrasted then? When logos are sharp and pop it looks bold, confident and much more powerful.
The angry beaver logo has to go. I don’t have any suggestions otherwise but almost anything else would be an improvement. I don’t mind the OS logo but think it might look better in a slightly different font. I like its simplicity. And I love the idea of a checkered end zone – that would be sharp.
I am nervous as hell to see what Tinker Hatfield is going to come up with. Most of his designs are garrish at best. Somebody better invoke some veto power this time around if he comes up with any more crap like the bra uniforms. I can’t stand Nike and wish we would break free from them myself.
As for the Oregon O, I like it on their football helmets and for their university brand, but I think they overuse it in many areas. They tend to get obnoxious with it (like most everything they do). And I think it looks rediculous on their baseball team caps.
angry you’re being a little dramatic :p but i see where you’re coming from. The beav logo isn’t a fail, but is very average. I agree that it’s not as “sophisticated” as oregon’s but I don’t think it’s below average. Take a look at some other logos: http://www.sportslogos.net/league.php?id=7
It’s about on par with most of the other teams. Just look at that san diego chargers logo—how is that not trump’s toupee? I think we could either get rid of the writing or get rid of the beaver image–having both is a little busy and redundant. I donno, it’s not horrible but it could definitely use some work.
and here is a list of some guy’s opinion of the 20 coolest logos. He seems to prefer the angry animal + letter design. http://www.rockytoptalk.com/2008/8/6/587793/the-20-coolest-college-foo
and here are the most boring according to this site: http://www.rockytoptalk.com/2008/8/5/586990/the-29-most-boring-college
and the worst: http://www.rockytoptalk.com/2008/8/7/588392/the-10-worst-college-footb
i don’t really like any on their best list :/
Check out the Caltech Beaver. You could have OSU on top and an angrier face and probably lose the tail and it wouldn’t be awful. Same colors.
http://www.gocaltech.com/landing/index
We can do better but you can start to see some possibilities where you could use the full OSU and it could work and not be too boring. While I don’t think we need a cartoon beaver, if we have checkered endzones then having some kind of beaver illustration where it wasn’t too large or prominent below the OSU would atleast get the idea out we were the Beavers. Other possibility is you could keep it simple without the Beaver on the field but use the logo with beaver included for some merchandise sales only maybe.
The MIT Beaver swims and shows tail also (but has a different take on the look):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MITengineerslogo.PNG
Neither is anywhere near a power brand though and they would not draw the nation’s and Pac-12’s top recruits. Personally I think the combo of the OS with checkered endzones would actually bring out the best in the OS. We could play with the font a little until we got it looking its best and it would be pretty good. If Tinker doesn’t blow us away with a bold new nationally elite and POWERFUL logo we could safely fall back to some use of the OS (modified or otherwise) as a decent Plan B.
I like an aspect of Castornation’s idea of a crest and had that idea myself a couple weeks ago thinking about the Ravens. Either a crest with an OS in it or something in the middle of the field or perhaps a crest in the endzone to break up the checkered pattern just a little and make it perhaps just a tad more interesting (got the idea from the orange and white contrade of the Palio di Siena who has a shield crest in their checkered flag). Still since we already have the Pac-12 shield logo with our colors that is kinda like our crest already so I kinda put it away in my head as not quite ideal. Perhaps there is some element there though that could still possibly be incorporated.
Cal Tech beaver looks like a Hanna-Barbera cartoon character. MIT’s looks like a muskrat. Like I have always said we don’t have very good source material. It’s a friggin’ Beaver, not really the animal to inspire athletic achievements.
I’m not so anti on the Beaver on the field. I would like to see it gone from the helmets. I really don’t like the OS logo. I prefer OSU, but would like something simple. The PAC 10-12 has a crest, maybe OSU could have a crest that would simply represent the school. Maybe we could get some wranglers to run a Beaver out onto the field before games like Colorado’s Ralphie. No matter what they do to enhance branding, it has to come with success on the field. Baseball helps, but football has to take the lead. Oregon’s ass gasket looks a little sharper, a little more cutting edge when you play for a national championship. But at 2 & 10, nothing would improve their image. At 5 & 7 OSU will always be that school just north of Eugene.
When did the angry muskrat cartoon show up first? I think it was on the lower back, right side of the 1997 helmet. But was it in use before that as a secondary logo? I know the cursive “Beavers” has been in use off and on since 1979. Why they feel compelled to tell us just what it is they have a cartoon of on the helmet/field/court/whatever is beyond me.
Well, no it’s not.
It’s because the angry muskrat isn’t strong enough to stand on its own. It’s not an instant classic like the original Benny (1950 design?). The original Benny is still the logo of choice for most hoops blogs in the Pac when they do their game previews and pre-season rankings and such. The original Benny has staying power in the wake of its forced attrition. Slap the new font on the hat, and let’s move on.
The swaled OS is just poor. If you must, layer them one over the other. But the swaled look is not good. Besides, there are a couple OS logos out there that do the same thing… one pretty close to ours.
We are OSU, plain and simple. We’re not tOSU. We’re not oSu or even operating system. Why can’t we just be us? The university itself handles logos well. It’s just the sports teams that don the stupidity. Baseball and hoops unis manage to escape the angry muskrat silliness. But he’s always lurking somewhere.
If we were going to rip off someone for the OS, we could at least rip off the Taijitu… sort of like what Symantec does for their logo.
Or rip off the Showtime SHO logo. Orange circle from ‘powered by orange’ overlay the OS logo in white.
Simple, clean.
And you’re right about the original Benny as a secondary logo, classic/retro and doing away with the ‘angry’ beaver is overdue.
I must say that I’m a bit bored with all the image talk. I understand that it is a part of the business, but I still think the product on the field is much more important than the wrapping. The main point of a “brand” is being recognizable. When the baseball team had the back to back years it dramatically changed our recognition, much more than any marketing campaign. Unfortunately, College Baseball is still a niche market. And while I was never a huge fan of the change to OS, I do believe that it has differentiated us from the other OSU’s to places east of the Rockies. Maybe I’m not as up on the driving forces for elite 18 year old athletes, but I think the font of our logo is not in the top 10 decision factors on where to go.
Oregon had the “O” long before it was recognizable. Oregon began becoming a recognizable brand when Uncle Phil purchased the billboard for Joey Harrington along with having some success on the field/court.
Oregon State does not have the type of booster that will jump start the marketing side, so we will have to earn respect/recognition the old fashion way. I think our losses in the Civil War the last couple of years that kept us out of the Rose Bowl have been holding us back from national recognition alot more than our cartoon beaver.
I think the point is that there’s nothing recognizable or memorable about either the angry muskrat or the swaled OS. I agree that on-field success largely dictates exposure (and repeated exposure). But when eyes are finally on us, nobody will remember who we are. The angry muskrat speaks for itself. Nobody knows what exactly that toothy head is, so we’re compelled to tell everyone with the cursive script that was bad in the 70’s.
The OS is better, but it’s still weak. The font is ok, but the layout is poor. Hell, it’s not even original. Nor does it differentiate us from oSu.
http://www.orangepower.com/showthread.php?t=120074
The O that UofO ripped off is Oakley.
Hey!
For $250 we can go buy an OS logo!
http://stocklogos.com/node/7826
I would even say that one needs an U with the S though.
$425 gets us a better beaver logo.
http://stocklogos.com/node/22434
I think the O from the first logo with the minimalist beaver inside it instead of the S works. Then just add “State” to the lower right side of the O (under the beaver), and we’re good.
Who’s good with graphics tools?
Funny, that’s sort of where I was going with my idea. Obviously not so original but better than the ‘muskrat.’
One think to keep in mind through all this, is that to change something even as simple as the color scheme would cost millions – I remember when Fairleigh Dickinson did this while I was there, it was a 3 million dollar job (or something like that) – it’s not just a matter of paying the design team (which is pricey in itself), but changing everything from the helmets and gear, to letterhead, to website – the identity of the school is a heavy and pricey thing to change, even slightly. This is why they don’t do it regularly.
We’re only talking about the AD. The university itself doesn’t suffer from such an identity crisis. In fact, the official university website/identity/branding is excellent. It is one of the best school websites out there.
Unfortunately, the AD draws traffic to the school’s site. The less there is, the less it’s recognized.
Still, there are costs involved. But it seems OSU has been fishing several times for something that will stick over the past two decades, and the font is the only thing I’ve seen that might stick in people’s minds. The font means nothing if the words it forms aren’t used well. And the current font lends itself to linear layouts.
I have always liked the layout on the Horizon plane.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/beavers/2007/12/OSUplane2.jpg
Look at how out of place the angry muskrat is.
I think a horizontal OSU like that one with that font is better than the diagonal OSU’s I have tried myself and also seen Tinker try. Seems stronger to me. Since Okie St uses orange and oSu we would probably be best served having it black like that. Combined with checkered endzones it would be a fairly strong look. We wouldn’t necessarily have to get rid of OS either since it is the same font. The one thing I do like about OS is it looks good on the faceplate on the helmets and also is our best hat logo by far (the classic O would be in the conversation for good hat but we currently rarely use it). Sometimes they make the OS weaker on hats then they should, but when they make it a bit bolder, it strikes a good balance. I have seen Leo in his more than a few times. If it didn’t look good he wouldn’t be wearing it out at nightclubs.
The cheapest workable solution is probably have a big orange OS (black would be a 2nd choice) and then the checkered endzone. We would have most the vibe we want. I would prefer not to use the angry beaver on the helmet at that point but you could and it would be a use consistent with the Baltimore Ravens. Better yet, you expand the Giant Killer unis with thinner white stripes on the helmet and sleeves and coupled with the Orange OS, the horizontal OSU, or an updated classic orange ‘O’ and checkered endzones, and the total effect is very good. Basically all those work with decent strength. It just is picking one and improving it for the highest strength and power.
Or who knows maybe Tinker will beat us all and surprise us with an even better POWERFUL brand/logo.
Zero white stripeys period. In fact, remove the white from the helmet and put that helmet on our current unis. Or add orange numbers to one side in our font.
I have liked the OS at times when I couldn’t tell that they were overlapping and swaling the damn thing. All those extra lines just kill the visual. I also like it when it’s solid and over the crossed bats as I’ve seen in many places. It’s serviceable, but it’s still weak.
Google “os” and “osu”. Which do you think makes OSU more recognizable?
Replace “Canada” with “State”?
http://www.canadiandesignresource.ca/officialgallery/logo/parks-logo/
How much do you think THAT would cost?
Ok, as far as branding, marketing, and business goes. I’ve taken a marketing class and The “Angry Beaver” doesn’t need to necessarily go away completely, it needs to be modified by a large margin.
We kept the Beavers script underneath the Angry Beaver because we had the script on the helmets in the “28 losing seasons”. This alone is why we need to rid ourselves of the beavers script underneath the beaver head.
Next, we deal with aesthetics of the beaver head vs. the block “O” and/or the interlocking “OS”.
The “OS” would look best on the pants while the “O” looks best oh hats.
The Beaver head would also look fine on the pants while the “OS” is on the helmet. Baseball, softball, and basketball already implement the beaver head on the pants/shorts, while the football team has it on the helmet and the “OS” is on the helmets of the baseball and softball teams. so why not utilize this in football?
Now, the block “O” should be on the basketball court and the middle of the football field kind of like Ohio State, but Orange. This way when you look at the field from the West or East side, you look at it the same way, an “O”.
As far as fan gear goes, that’s another story, but as far as placement goes, these 3 “logos” would be best utilized in this way. The block “O” with some kind of checkered end zone would differentiate us from Ohio State’s field. Also, when Reser is completed, we too will have a Horseshoe stadium and will match up along side Ohio State in this regard. This is not a bad thing because look at Ohio State and their brand/success.
This is what I have at the moment, but otherwise, the beaver is best utilized when shrunken, not blown up.
Using already existing logos in different ways might be the only answer for now due to cost constraints. And you have to phase logos out as well. Even now, there are people who think the angry muskrat with the bad font is good.
The weaker the mind, the more you must placate that mind. Shrink it until it disappears, and they’ll forget the lousy cartoon quickly.
Then again, they’ll probably praise the next garish Nike design as “brilliant”.
how do you add photo’s onto here or can you not?
Form a forum topic and upload the photo to it. Then you can link to the forum.
Hmmm… you can only add images with an existing URL to the forum. I was thinking of another site I guess.
You can’t, but if it’s something you want/need I can probably add it.
I don’t think anyone likes the interlocking OS. There are people who say “it’s the best we’ve got”, “it’s better than the Angry Beaver” and “I sort of like it, but…”
Nobody says, “This is the ideal design” because nobody believes that. Let’s just admit it. It’s somewhere between weak and average.
The Pollyana’s are killing OSU with their blind support. Most of them are old fans who are just happy to win a handful of games and make a bowl. I notice the demographic for this site is mostly young professionals or students who lean liberal and can give/take a joke. The older fans here are super cool and open to change. But there’s a huge donor base of conservative, dying farts that keeps telling themselves they like things when they don’t, that keep rationalizing the AD’s bad decisions because they have reason (i.e. donations) to do so, etc. These people kill progress. They don’t read this site because it scares them. And when they do, like Gabriel, they run the moment someone challenges their set ways. Thus, a stagnant fan base that can’t sell out the stadium, and a mediocre football team that keeps promising it will “take the next step” year after year.
How about an abstract beaver form with script underneath? I’ve always liked the look of Infinity Bridge. Just add a tail and place it over some script defining OSU.
http://www.dphotographer.co.uk/users/7577/thm1024/infinitybridgesmall.jpg
I’m totally surprised by the amount of responses on this thread. Am I really the only person around here who couldn’t give the slightest shit about the logo? Absolutely no one around the country cares about our logo any more than you guys care about Alabama’s logo or Michigan’s logo, etc. The current logo is recognizable, and that’s enough. When someone sees it and if they’re a fan of college sports, they’ll know who it refers to. If you’re an Oregon State supporter, you’re going to continue to support the team regardless of how hairy our beaver is, and if you’re not a supporter, it’s not going to cross your mind. People’s mental images of college programs outside their conference are more abstract than an actual picture. When I think of Penn State, the first thing that pops to head isn’t their Nittany Lion logo, whatever that is, but rather the concept of longstanding tradition and JoePa’s wrinkly old ass come to mind. When I think of Miami, I don’t see a big letter U, but rather I conjure up an image of a bunch of thugs. The brand we want to get in to people’s heads needs to be significantly more abstract than a cartoon beaver… it’s ideas, not pictures, that stick. For the meanwhile, we don’t need to be wasting a single penny on something so trivial.
While I agree that “no brand’ is the brand that comes to mind when thinking of Penn State, I also think of that Nittany Lion badge. And the “U” is almost a brand unto itself. If you’re a college football fan, and you hear or see the U, then you think “Miami”. If you hear or see thugs, then you think “run”.
If you’re on the East Coast, and you see the muskrat with “Beavers” underneath, where are you supposed to attach it in your mind? The guys who report on college football can’t get us right. You’re saying the casual fan can?
Here’s the link to the forum i created. tell me which design you like best and which logos look best aesthetically.
http://angrybeavs.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&p=1596#p1596
CRAP! Why didn’t I log in a long ass time ago! I could have edited soooo many comments I made! lol oh well.
Beaver hat of the month according to FB “Oregon State Beavers”.
http://www.osubeaversshop.com/gdosu41111017.html
I believe Tinker went back to the classic ‘O’ in his final Giant Killer design because it best goes with some of our renaissance/classic architecture and particularly Weatherford Hall. It has the added bonus of looking good from every angle and fan seat.
I also like the fact that we would be challenging oregon directly as THE flagship university of the state. I have always felt OSU provides the most benefit and impact to our state with all its research, engineering and the breadth of its sciences. You also can say “OooSssUuu” with a classic ‘O’ on the field and it isn’t strange at all unlike with OS.
What I also like about our classic O is that it actually is stronger than Ohio State’s. It has a slighly taller height to width ratio which maximizes its strenth and seems to have very close to a golden ratio harmony about its strength and power.
See this pic of the Giant Killer design with a strong classic O:
http://assets.espn.go.com/sportscenter/images/OREGON_STATE_wallpaper_576.jpg
Or just the uni: http://nikeprocombat2010.nikemedia.com/assets/oregon_state/oregon_state_hero_low_res.jpg
Most mockups I have done with the OS instead of the O actually use some type of block lettering so you get more of a classic vibe and I think it comes out a bit stronger.
But I would have to agree with what Tinker gave us last time and say an updated Classic O seems to fit the university well and would look really good with checkered endzones on the field. I don’t think we need Beaver icons to be the Beavers. We can keep writing it out boldly on baseball jerseys and on our basketball jerseys and you could bring back the classic Benny with a slightly more menacing look for some apparel sales or to have on the posters on the bottom wall right below the student section. Thin out the white and have a road and orange version of the Giant Killers and allow for a few color combos with pants/tops and maybe an alternate helmet. The other thing you could do is use an improved Giant Killer helmet with both the Giant Killer look for the rest of the jerseys/pants and also basically with our current unis as well. As long as they both were close and since they both are pretty classic overall it would work with both. It would just be like two slightly different Beaver looks that still fit the overall image well and gives us a few more possibilities without anything that messes with the colors and strong classical and yet still feeling modern look. Overall this would be a solid look and brand for Oregon State and would work well with the checkered endzones so that we had a gameday atmosphere that really feels like and fits OSU.
enough with the checkered end zones moniker…It’s getting just as annoying as the Reser thing. You have people who agree with you including myself. So we’re already behind you on that one. Also, if you look at my mock up designs in the forum: http://angrybeavs.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=274
You will notice that there is a block “O” on the tail of the plane. I gave 4 options of logos that I found to be aesthetically better than the current/original design of the logos on the plane.
Well, you can’t say he’s inserting these ideas in an unrelated thread.
that’s true, but he’s saying it over and over. It’s as if I were to keep posting the link at a later time when the thread got so long, it may seem like it got lost in the shuffle, when in reality, the people who follow this blog, would already have read it and been caught up. OR better yet, if they saw my link and didn’t want to see my designs/ideas, then they would over look it and I wouldn’t know the difference. SO, my point is, 1 and done…in my case of reposting the link in response to OS(which is funny considering he’s trying to sell the block “O” now lol) was to say “hey, if you had skipped this, then it’s here” much like what angry does when someone brings up something that is related to a post he had created or knew about. :)
The designs were fine. I gave you a thumbs up for your block O post. It was hard to get a great feel for your block O on the airplane though because the color was a little off and it would look much more cohesive with that spot on and if the lines were all straight. My overall thought was there is some OK stuff but maybe you were still trying to use too many logos together. We could probably get away with just the classic block O by itself but we shouldn’t add anything more than a secondary logo. Three is too much to maximize your brand. 1 may be best but 2 at most. We also have the Pac-12 logo to fit in and cannot lose the overall focus of our POWERFUL brand.
I feel that the beaver head without the script and the actual brown color is A LOT better than the current beaver head. Reasons?
1) It’s simpler
2) It’s more “realistic”
3) it matches up with black better than with a white/orange trim around it making it blend in more and not be so “out of place”
Also, what I was going for with the logo placements was imagine the tail as the helmet the engine as the chest on the jersey, and the tail as the pants. That’s really what I was going for.
Also, the block “O” was off color because stupid paint doesn’t have bright/burnt orange as an option. So I had to go with a more, reddish orange and the lines aren’t straight because paint sucks and I can’t afford to get photoshop nor can I find a good free download that does graphics. So what you get is the best I can do in a quick amount of time.
I personally like the simple beaver head with either the Block “O” or the “OS” on the pants. Although, the “OS” would match up better with the “helmets” in baseball and softball. Idk. up to you guys. It’s a toss up from where I’m sitting…and i’m slumped on the couch atm.
Tinker’s Oregon State scrapbook:
http://roughthoughts.com/2010/09/tinker-hatfield/
Home drawing:
http://img4.coastalliving.com/i/2009/03/havesomenerve-l.jpg?400:400
Finished home:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dalydaly/2675601313/
Off topic (not much though):
UCLA and Urban Meyer?
http://www.bruinsnation.com/2011/5/10/2162461/pac-12-tv-deal-ucla-Urban-Meyer-Rick-Neuheisel
Good bit at the end about the powerful brand UCLA has in China. Our brand has to be Asia ready too as ESPN and Fox both have ownership in the Star network over there. Scott is serious about aggressively pursuing the Asian markets. If done right we could be one of the more popular Pac-12 North brands. The Pac-12 now has the cachet to pusue any coach they want. Meyer at UCLA taking on USC properly would garner even more attention on the Pac-12. If his heart could take it a hire like that would just about maximize our league and the CA and LA media and economic engines of the conference.
Off topic… Beavs sign 6’7″ center from Brazil via JUCOs.
http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/051011aaa.html
Yup – she’s 3 inches taller than Jared Cunningham – NCAA dunk of the year winner.
Bang on all you like about the logo – I am somewhat dubious about the images on the Oregon State home page. It seems to me that the last few photographs have mostly been of people (granted, attractive co-eds) gardening, growing crops, owning a restaurant, etc. OS has amazing research, engineering, science curricula, but I rarely see photos of those students.
Breaking OSU News:
DeCarolis signs 5 year extension.
http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/051011aad.html
yea?
On topic of this, but I’m on Vicodin and I don’t give a damn!
SHIT! WHY?! We’ll now be another year behind everyone else in paying for things we need by paying off debt in one lump sum instead of over time. We could invest in so many things such as gameday experience outside of Reser(which needs vast improvement, Bringing in an “After game Concert” like when we had Montgomery Gentry in ’05! There are soooo many things that could make the gameday experience better than going out to drink at half time and come back to the game when you feel like it instead of when the game actually starts/starts back up again! I could go on, but I won’t.
the logo is silly because it uses a font that is not related to any other font in the university’s logos, and more importantly, it implies they need a word to clarify the image of the beaver. Imagine if Apple had the word “apple” under their logo, in a ridiculous, cheap, off-the-shelf looking font.
Drop the beaver, bring back an “OSU” with a simple, strong font. Perhaps put it on one side of the helmet as has been suggested.
And empirically define the color standards that manufacturers of products must adhere to – look at OSU’s website and there’s so many shades of orange its a joke.
We are supposed to be standardized on “Pantone 165 C” Orange according to DeCarolis which is a good orange that is supposed to be exactly halfway between pure orange and orange-red from what I understand. That is fine, but one problem is alot of merchandise and graphics revert pack to the less vibrant plain orange and then it looks too light and a bit dull in comparison to the Pantone 165 C we are trying to be the standard. I don’t quite get why that still happens so much except that maybe some producers just think any orange will work.
Interesting. Like I said, I know nothing of design, but when I made this site standard orange bored the hell out of me, so I shifted it towards red.
Yor color looks quite close to 165 C. Very close. Looks good. The brighter orange with some red in it has alot more power and vibrancy, whereas plain orange seems like it isn’t trying too hard and is too modest and lacks aspiration.
It doesn’t help when beaverblitz, beaverfootball and buildingthedam all have a more plain orange and keep pushing that when we have decided from the AD that we are going with an orange with some red in it. He needs to get them all on an exact color for the sake of our brand. Find out the software they use and get them standardized as close to the 165 C as possible.
This is what bugs me about BDC. He just doesn’t put the effort into certain things that would help. You could make the calls and send the emails and have all 3 sites changed within a week if you really got an intern working on it and as long as they knew it was coming from the AD to help standardize our universal brand.
hrm…
http://www.osubeavers.com/genrel/pruett_nikki00.html
Hmmm.
They need to update their staff bios. It was announced in March that Pruett, along with virtually every other manager in Athletics, was promoted. She is now the Assistant AD for Marketing and Promotions.
I went to a well attended lecture tonight by a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist on the UO campus. The podium had a big, bright yellow “O” with a green backdrop. It looked tacky and didn’t represent the feel of an elite lecture. It looked more like someone put a mic stand on a sports beer cooler. I’m not convinced that the “O” works in non sports applications. I’m a graphic artist. Engraving the “O” out of a nice finished wood would be OK but it will always, always remind me of a toilet seat.
I got a real kick out of their commencement ceremony last year. As the academic processional was led onto the field and around the track, the *uck was leading the way, waving, clowning, playing with hats, and generally doing the complete sideline shtick (minus getting into a fight).
Nothing like dignity and class for the ultimate expression of purpose for an institution of higher learning.
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