I like the Eye of the Tiger...Looks cool on the hats.:tigereye: :tigereye: :tigereye: :tigereye: :tigereye: :tigereye: :tigereye: :crystal: :geaux:
I have always liked the eye. It is unique. We are a unique university. Considering we are the only team in the SEC whose band does not play "I've been working on the railroad." Okay, I exaggerate on that last point, but you catch where I am going, right?
The original "Eye" logo on the field was weak. In recent years they have updated the art work so that it is more definitive. I think it looks great and unique on the field. The reason is that the field is very large in a stadium setting and comes across great on TV, especially on a fly over the stadium. The problem is when you put it on a jacket, shirt or hat you are away from LSU most of the time and it is actually a weak brand. So most folks outside the SEC will not really know what it is. But it works on the field because that is the only time you see. In other words when anyone sees it in our stadium they know what they are watching. The reason the new LSU with the Tiger head works so well is they are both very definitive and everyone that sees that logo knows exactly what school it is. That's one of the keys to good branding. The older/newer LSU/Tiger/Swirl logo was horrible because it was to busy. The designer was trying to do too much with it. It was pushed on us even though it was weak. I hope they get all this straightened out so we can continue to make our Brand stronger with the public. Continuing to change things up weakens the LSU brand. Especially during a time when we are getting so much exposure. Having multiple brands floating around is not good business.
i'll give you a graphic design / marketing point-of-view. don't be offended, but this perspective is in complete contrast with that of most of louisiana being that most of louisiana is not "city folk" or refined. so that said, the eye of the tiger is a TERRIBLE logo. it looks good on the field... and that's it. when on the field they paint it with nice gradients so that it fades into the grass and looks good. you cannot do this when you embroider the logo into clothes, hats, etc. basically the only media it looks good on is grass and the web. that's a logistical standpoint on why the eye of the tiger logo is weak, now onto marketing. first off the eye of the tiger logo has no brand recognition at all. change the colors to orange and blue and it becomes an auburn mark, or black and gold and it becomes a mizzou mark. the only reasons it is recognizable as lsu are that it's purple and gold and on our midfield. that does not create a viable brand. not even close. secondly lsu paid a lot of money for their current brand system and it is incredibly effective. the first part of it is what most people call the "geaux font" which is a typeface created specifically for lsu. this lsu mark is absolutely recognizable simply because it says lsu. beyond that the font is never used in any other context with does nothing but reinforce the brand identity behind the font. this is shown below. finally, the "toonces" that you all refer to is dead. lsu no longer uses this mark, the type associated with it, nothing. this mark is dead dead dead. it's incredibly unfortunate for lsu that their fans in their home state can't recognize this, but it is what it is. below is an example of the original "toonces" logo and the current athletic logo. first the old. (this logo is horrible look-wise and logistically) now the "new" i guarantee the 95% of you would never had bitched or moaned or anything if lsu would've unveiled this new logo instead of toonces because it is a good logo. it does everything a brand is supposed to do and it looks good doing it. but because everyone, for whatever reason, can't see the difference, the athletic department is stuck. yes the original toonces sucks. lsu should never have unveiled that. but you guys have got to realize this logo is supposed to reach people who aren't in louisiana and aren't lsu fans. even toonces was more recognizable and efficient than the eye of the tiger, although not in a good way. so there's my graphic design rant, clearly it's not this simple. but what is this simple is that probably none of you have any background in design or marketing. that's not meant to cut you down but think if you're a mechanic, you wouldn't want everyone in the city saying you should change a transmission in a different method because they're not mechanics and they have no clue. same with this. * i didn't read through the thread because i was too excited to talk about graphic design. sorry if any of this has been addressed.
As someone with an art background and some in computer graphics, I can say that none of us think it looks "cheap" or poorly made. It just looks like a house cat, not a tiger. Toonces looks as though he's beginning to speak, not as if he's roaring. And the eyes are too slanted and without emotion, thus making it appear kiddish. It's not that it doesn't look good, it's that it isn't LSU - fierce, smash mouth football. These are roaring, growling, aggressive-looking tiger logos: The more passive tiger logos: Notice anything? One thing that should be noticed is that the aggressive/fierce/growling tiger logos have the ears pinned back, the mouth open exposing the upper teeth, with also the eyes showing emotion. In the less aggressive, kiddy, purring tiger logos, the ears are at a calm position, the mouth is just open, and the eyes stare off into space. I'm not a fan of all the logos I posted, but there is a definite difference. Despite the lack of quality in some of them, the irritation, aggravation and anger of the tiger is depicted. You just don't see that in toonces. Apparently the designers for toonces had no idea what a tiger looks like or acts like. I'm waiting for drool to drip out of toonces' mouth. I agree that the eye looks terrible on clothing, but I believe that when people see it, they do have an idea of who it belongs to because of the national publicity we've been receiving with almost all of our games on TV and with the reputation Tiger Stadium has (and is gaining). All it takes is time. Just by looking at these logos, I know which school they belong to, whether you change the colors or not. I could go on and on... So obviously, I disagree. :thumb:
I disagree on a few points. First off, the eye was originally used at midfield and I don't see anything wrong with keeping it there. I even had a friend from up North call me during the a game and asked me whether the eye was projected onto the field (like they do with advertisements or the yellow 1st down line). He thought it looked real cool how it blends. Anyway, I don't think something other than the "official logo" at midfield is going to screw up a brand. Secondly, the new logo is the same damn Toonces but just his head. He looks like a kids cartoon and myself and many others around actually refuse to buy ANYTHING with that POS on it. How is that good, LSU could make a killing on merchandise even if they went to something close to the helmet logo that they could still claim the rights to (I'm under the impression that the impetus for change in the first place was that our logo on the helmet was public domain and LSU couldn't collect royalty fees from people using it). Also, the "Geaux Font" is indeed a full alphabet font from what I understand. Faculty and staff at LSU even have the ability to download it according to LSU's website. I can't imagine wanting type anything in it but i don't believe it's limited to three letters, that would be insane for LSU to spend money on a 3 letter font. The bottom line is Toonces is unpopular with a large portion of the fans, it looks cartoonish, it doesn't invoke a sense of history (it looks like a logo from some Sun Belt team), and if your own fan base isn't pumped about it's logo how could anyone else. If somehow LSU changed back to the old style I'd be willing to bet merchandise would be flying off the shelves. People love that old one and it sucks having to choose only clothes that say LSU or Tigers in some way but to find it without the logo.
THEY LOOK ALOT ALIKE TO ME! WHAT I dont understand is, WHAT IS WRONG with the Tiger Logo on the side of the helmet, EVERYONE knows that look!
