Logo History

This is my Logo History essay. I had to talk about the evolution of a logo , I chose to do the Brooklyn Nets because I believed they had a lot of interesting logo changes. I also found the reason behind why some of the logos were made very interesting .

  

                                                        Logo Evolution 

     There are a lot of different teams in the NBA that have changed their logo over time, for many different reasons. Some choose their logo just because it looks cool our they like the color scheme, but some teams take it further and actually have a reason behind their logo. One of the teams that do this is the Brooklyn Nets. Over the years the Nets have changed their logo a lot and seem to be going in a different direction than they were years ago. 

     In 1967 the Brooklyn Nets name wasn’t even the same. In the Stadium Talk article it stated “They were the New Jersey Americans and their logo was a red, white and blue shield, with a red, white and blue basketball in the center and “N.J.  American” spread across the top of the shield, There are three white stars on each side of the shield”, (Derek Tahara , Stadium Talk, https://www.stadiumtalk.com/s/nba-team-logos-history-3837c31588704b00). I think they had the name the “ New Jersey Americans” because they had Just joined the American Basketball Association. They were in a league with only ten other teams in it, I think they were competing for the fans, More fans means more income for the team. I think they thought the American flag colors and American in their name would give them a boost to be a favorite in the league. The 1967 Brooklyn Nets logo made a long trend of other logos that followed the color Scheme. In the Yahoo sports article it stated, “ The franchise’s inaugural logo set the stage for decades of design”, ( Shaun Powell , NBA.com, https://www.nba.com/nets/history/logo-history#main ).

The team changed the name a year later , Too “ New York Nets” after moving to Long Island. The team also took a different approach with  their logo as well. In the Sports HQ article it said, “ They replaced the American shield with a large “NY” in red letters and “nets” in a blue cursive wordmark with a basketball player playing in the color black” ,( Jesse Dorsey, Bleacher report, https://www.google.com/amp/s/syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/1345550-7-nba-teams-that-desperately-need-a-logo-overhaul.amp.html ). As you can see they took a different approach with this logo , with taking the American off there name. Other teams felt it would be unfair because they used the league name to boost themselves and thought they would be getting favoritism because people thought they were the leagues team. 

In 1972 yet again the New York Nets started over with a new stadium , new uniforms, and a new logo. This new logo incorporated a version of the previous logo, and had a cursive typeface. Since 1962 the New York Nets have tried to incorporate the colors red, white, and blue to give people the idea that they were America’s team. The clothing that the Nets had at this time , not only represented them but America because of the colors they used. This type of advertising help the team in two major ways. The first way was it gave them lots of fans, the second way was that a lot of players wanted to play there because they wanted the affections from the fans. In 1977 the Nets moved to New Jersey and dropped the NY from the logo because of the move , the change didn’t last for long , in 1978 the logo was changed again. It was a whole new design and it lasted for a decade. This was a circular logo and had the state name and the shape of it, it still had red, white, and blue as its colors. 

In 1990 the logo became modernized their logo . Teams were getting more creative with their logo , and players on the Nets wanted something new and modern. The Nets came up with the  red ,white, and blue gradient with “ Nets” in all caps, floating above a basketball that shared the same color Scheme as it did in its ABA days. In 1997 the Nets went with a three-dimensional shield concept , they also kept the basketball that was part of every franchise logo except the 1968 logo. The most important thing about this logo is that they changed the logo color scheme. They used a navy blue, with a darker red, and added silver and gray to the outlining of the shield. 

The current Logo shows transition , The team moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn. This was a start to a new era and they thought this logo would say that. This logo had a black and white color scheme and a minimalist look on their uniforms. This logo had more of a straightforward approach. It was designed by Timothy morris he’s a primary designer for Jay-z. Jay-z  is from brooklyn and felt that the logo represented were he was from well. This was real different for the whole organization because since they never had a famous person design the logo it was always multiple owners deciding these things. The Fox Sports article stated “ It takes confidence to design a logo this stark, this obvious. Black and white. A basketball. A “B”. It’s barely anything, and it’s perfect. They pulled it off”, ( Nate Scoot, Fox Sports, https://www.foxsports.com/nba/gallery/30-nba-team-logos-ranked-030817 ). This design was so simple yet said so much , it represent change and new beginnings. Jay-z states “ The new logo demonstrates confidence in the new direction”, (Jim Edwards, Business Insider , https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com,heres-the-new-brooklyn-nets-logo-designed-by-jay-z-2012-5 ).  I think with this logo he accomplished exactly what he wanted too, and it changes the whole vibe of the team. Personel I think this was the best logo created so far, I feel in the rest of the logos they had too many things going on and some didn’t even seem as if  they were for a basketball team. This new logo really started change for the nets , they have been winning ever since this logo was created. I’m also very interested to see what they do next with the logo since they have changed it some much times im sure they will change it again. The nets note that the identity is based on New York City subway signage from the 1940s and 1950s. Something else found interesting is Jay-Z really pushed for the “B” in the logo because, It was a tribute to his wife. I don’t think that should’ve been way he used the “B” in the name, but overall I think it’s a great logo. In TorrBlog it stated “ well geeze … maybe it’s because they placed the “B” directly over a basketball. You know the abbreviation for Brooklyn is ? “BK” ( Torr , Torr Blog ,https://www.google.com/amp/s/torrblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/nba-the-new-brooklyn-nets-logo-branding-ugh/amp/). I feel the logo would have been better if they used the abbreviation of Brooklyn. The logo should represent brooklyn to the fullest , not BeyoncĂ©. Also a lot of Timothy Morris previous designs follow this same design and it makes me feel this is how Jay z like things and I don’t think Timothy Morris is really allowed to be creative.

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