Cy logo

[Palmer]

Awesome.....anything to do with that horrible uni decisions from the Gene Smith/MsCarney era (whirly/blue) is gone.

The I-State mark is JP's mark even though many want to tie it to the Chiz.

 

[Rods79]

This is embarassing. All of those "logos" are atrocious. You've now just taken the one unique thing we had and watered it down to a pathetic cartoon resembelence of Cy that should only be used on kids' clothing. And everyone thinks we have a hard time standing out in our branding, well, these make us even more forgetable. We should never have so many mark changes that don't draw from anything historical.

I don't email Pollard usually, but this is enough to make me sick.

 

[alarson]

Wasnt there a version of the old 'bird in a blender' that was with the new colors as well when we switched a few years back? I liked that version as it got rid of the blue, but kept a distinctive logo.
Also, why are we changing things again after such a short time?

 

[FarminCy]

So now some of my two year old "new color scheme whrily bird logo" apparel is already outdated. This is getting to hard to keep up with.

Not really a fan of the new Cy logos. I really wish they could incorporate a tornado or something.

And our goal of our logos being recognized nationally just got pushed back even further.

 

[alarson]

So now some of my two year old "new color scheme whrily bird logo" apparel is already outdated. This is getting to hard to keep up with.

Not really a fan of the new Cy logos. I really wish they could incorporate a tornado or something.

And our goal of our logos being recognized nationally just got pushed back even further.

Agreed. We need to 1. have some marks with a tornado in them, and 2. have some stability in them for once. You cant establish a brand with constant inconsistency.

 

[SDClone]

I don't like any of the either. I believe our logo should stand out from the rest of the schools so when someone see it, they know it is ISU. I agree that the logo with just the head looks just like Louisville. Need the tornado somewhere. We are the Cyclones. Where do we get that with just a picture of CY?

 

[Palmer]

Agreed. We need to 1. have some marks with a tornado in them, and 2. have some stability in them for once. You cant establish a brand with constant inconsistency.

1. I guess thay are taking the Miami Hurriane mascot point of view. Nothing to do with a Hurricane.

2. The I-State mark is the primary mark and will not change. They just changed up the secondary mark a bit.

 

[JHudd]

I don't like any of the either. I believe our logo should stand out from the rest of the schools so when someone see it, they know it is ISU. I agree that the logo with just the head looks just like Louisville. Need the tornado somewhere. We are the Cyclones. Where do we get that with just a picture of CY?

Looks like the swirling circle around the head of Cy in those could represent a tornado if you are looking at it from the top down...? I like them and really think there is no way they are going to make everyone happy but I do hope they stick with this for years to come, just to establish some long term consistency.

 

[Rods79]

Wasnt there a version of the old 'bird in a blender' that was with the new colors as well when we switched a few years back? I liked that version as it got rid of the blue, but kept a distinctive logo.
Also, why are we changing things again after such a short time?

This is what you are talking about. It is fantastic...it draws from a logo we have had for nearly 20 years, and matures it into a professional mark by eliminating the horrible font and navy blue color scheme.

What the AD/marketing department has done, cloak and dagger, with this new iteration (if you can even call it that) is just sickening. I have a hard time believing that we paid money for it to be done, and that someone was paid to produce that. It looks like a horrible version of Bucky the Badger, and the oval atrocities look like Mizzou's logo.

Words can not even describe how upset I am over this. You can't just go changing a mark every 3-4 years. Do we really want to represent our mascot in the most un-unique way possible? In my opinion this has set us back, immediately upon release, a good 10 years.

 

[Rods79]

Looks like the swirling circle around the head of Cy in those could represent a tornado if you are looking at it from the top down...? I like them and really think there is no way they are going to make everyone happy but I do hope they stick with this for years to come, just to establish some long term consistency.

The logo in my post above does exactly what you are describing. We could draw from something we've had before to build upon one of the most recognizable logos we have had...or start new with an uninspired cartoon version of nothing we have ever had before that does not distinguish us from any other cardinal mascot school. I know what I would pick.

 

[alarson]

Thats exactly what i was thinking of. I like that one.

 

[HFCS]

This is what you are talking about. It is fantastic...it draws from a logo we have had for nearly 20 years, and matures it into a professional mark by eliminating the horrible font and navy blue color scheme.

What the AD/marketing department has done, cloak and dagger, with this new iteration (if you can even call it that) is just sickening. I have a hard time believing that we paid money for it to be done, and that someone was paid to produce that. It looks like a horrible version of Bucky the Badger, and the oval atrocities look like Mizzou's logo.

Words can not even describe how upset I am over this. You can't just go changing a mark every 3-4 years. Do we really want to represent our mascot in the most un-unique way possible? In my opinion this has set us back, immediately upon release, a good 10 years.

I've done some brand updates and brand identity management in my career, and I have to say you make great points. Don't know if you have a background in it but you are spot in with this case in my opinion.

The secondary mascot mark you posted was an "update" rather than a new mark, but it achieves so much in keeping what was good and getting rid of dated elements. It retains so much identity while still working well with our new primary mark. When the I-State logo was unveiled the first thing I said was "people are still going to want lots of images of Cy for countless reasons". I figured the mark above was the simple but effective solution for that. Guess not.

As a graphic illustrator myself, I think the new tough looking walking Cy is pretty good on its own if we're ignoring any positive reference to past history. The other mascot head marks are cliche, not because they look like Louisville, just because of the swooping oval enclosures... I sense they are meant to give a feeling of a tornado/cyclone but they look 90% like a 90s design cliche and 10% like a hurricane.

 

[Rods79]

Remember this thing that came out as a secondary mark? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Ohio State came out with something like that (reference below)...it seemed like a cartooning trend that was geared/derived with the purpose to market to children. In that sense it could stand on its own as a supplement. I'm ok with that, but you don't see these schools making that one of the primary marks.

The "new" logo could serve the same, but it can never (and should never) replace the last updated mark.

Looks like:

and...

Looks like:

and...

now we look like fools for paying money for someone to design such a heavy handed and clunky iteration.

 

[JHudd]

This is what you are talking about. It is fantastic...it draws from a logo we have had for nearly 20 years, and matures it into a professional mark by eliminating the horrible font and navy blue color scheme.

What the AD/marketing department has done, cloak and dagger, with this new iteration (if you can even call it that) is just sickening. I have a hard time believing that we paid money for it to be done, and that someone was paid to produce that. It looks like a horrible version of Bucky the Badger, and the oval atrocities look like Mizzou's logo.

Words can not even describe how upset I am over this. You can't just go changing a mark every 3-4 years. Do we really want to represent our mascot in the most un-unique way possible? In my opinion this has set us back, immediately upon release, a good 10 years.

Isn't the new logo with just the head, the head from this logo with a circle thing around it? Almost a way to make the head be more of the focus and show up larger depending what they put it on? I think I would dislike this more if I didn't see everyone so up in arms with the last change from the blue and the old bird in a blender. I like simple marks and I agree that the logo above is a good example of one but I am not going to get upset based upon the new ones. With as many teams as there are in the country there is bound to be some aspect of any logo, color, or song that can be related to some other team in some way....unless you were the first to do something back in the early or mid 20th century.

 

[Rods79]

I've done some brand updates and brand identity management in my career, and I have to say you make great points. Don't know if you have a background in it but you are spot in with this case in my opinion.

The secondary mascot mark you posted was an "update" rather than a new mark, but it achieves so much in keeping what was good and getting rid of dated elements. It retains so much identity while still working well with our new primary mark. When the I-State logo was unveiled the first thing I said was "people are still going to want lots of images of Cy for countless reasons". I figured the mark above was the simple but effective solution for that. Guess not.

As a graphic illustrator myself, I think the new tough looking walking Cy is pretty good on its own if we're ignoring any positive reference to past history. The other mascot head marks are cliche, not because they look like Louisville, just because of the swooping oval enclosures... I sense they are meant to give a feeling of a tornado/cyclone but they look 90% like a 90s design cliche and 10% like a hurricane.

Yep, agree with everything you have added. My background is in architecture...a design field nonetheless.

The beauty of what we did to update our marks 4 years ago was in the separation of the "I-State" and "Cy". This gave many more options to keep our mark history and to brand in any way we needed to. For instance, if they really wanted an oval logo, they could have altered our existing logo a bit (like I've seen it done before).

 

[Palmer]

I an see some beef with the new 'walking Cy' vs the the latest cardinal/gold whirly.


I am still relieved we got rid of the blue/white whirly on the helmets as the primary mark.

Someone should have never been paid for those designs.

 

[cyclones500]

That "new Cy" is hideous.

The goal seemed to be to mix the Blender Cy graphic with the Walking Cy.

Didn't work.

Do this:
1. Keep I-State, now that it's here. Let it grow. Some people like it (I like it, although it isn't perfect) —most people who hate will come around eventually once it isn't "new" anymore.
2. As for mascot branding, to link "now" with "tradition," replace the Old "I" on the classic Walking Cy with the I-State (but probably make it gold).
3. Continue the shirts with "IOWA" and "STATE" (top and bottom) and maybe use the Cy-nado logo, without any lettering or navy blue, sparingly.
4. Don't do anything else at all for at least five years. That includes (1) mascot changes; (2) helmet logos; (3) changes in hues of the school colors (4) overall helmet concept; (5) other.

A lot of schools adjust logos, uniforms and merchandise, but Iowa State takes it to ridiculous extremes. It's bad enough that there's a makeover ever five years, but there's also an insistence at trying to hang on to aspects of previous eras, too.

 

[KneeGusto]

The logo and mascot topics gather a lot of differing opinions.

The typical reactions of a marketing firm to too many opinions is to do an afternoon's work in which they simply mimic someone else and shove it down your throat as a "best alternative". They collect their half million $ and go on to the next sucker.

Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on designs the majority of donors do not like and have to be forced to purchase, why don't we tap our own resources - the students, faculty and alumnus to come up with better ideas?

But instead of establishing our own traditions, we will continue to be the I(llinois?)-State Louisville Cardinal Cyclones.

We had our own distinct helmet design once. We had decades of the Walking Cy. We've thrown them away to look like Louisville and Southern Miss. If we want to be a BCS school, and behave like a BCS school, maybe we should ignore the BS from marketing people and start behaving like we can establish our own traditions.

Yeah, I know, I'm dreaming.

 

[cyclones500]

The logo and mascot topics gather a lot of differing opinions.

The typical reactions of a marketing firm to too many opinions is to do an afternoon's work in which they simply mimic someone else and shove it down your throat as a "best alternative". They collect their half million $ and go on to the next sucker.

Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on designs the majority of donors do not like and have to be forced to purchase, why don't we tap our own resources - the students, faculty and alumnus to come up with better ideas?

But instead of establishing our own traditions, we will continue to be the I(llinois?)-State Louisville Cardinal Cyclones.

We had our own distinct helmet design once. We had decades of the Walking Cy. We've thrown them away to look like Louisville and Southern Miss. If we want to be a BCS school, and behave like a BCS school, maybe we should ignore the BS from marketing people and start behaving like we can establish our own traditions.

Yeah, I know, I'm dreaming.

Your idea is so crazy, it just might work.:yes:

 

[cyrocksmypants]

I'm just kind of mad because I was going to get a tattoo of the new punching whirly bird. Probably still will, but it's a bit discouraging that it's not one of our marks anymore.

I just really hate that they've essentially eliminated ANYTHING that refers to a Cyclone. It almost makes me wonder if JP is trying to even get rid of that name.

Oh well. Let's go I-State Mean-Looking Redbirds!