100 Greatest Pro Sports Logos Countdown - #100 Brevard County Manatees

#100 - Brevard County Manatees

Milwaukee Brewers AA Minor League Baseball Team in the Florida State League.

Logo referenced from http://www.sportslogos.net

How adorable is this guy? I enjoy minor league logos in general because they are often cute and cartoony like this example chosen for the Sport of Design 100 Greatest Pro Sports Logos Countdown as #100.

Minor league baseball is the ultimate family hometown sports experience and there is nothing better then spending a nice evening out at a minor league ball game. Small crowds, stadium food, cold beer, friendly people... Kids running around everywhere laughing, chewing bubble gum and pretending to be big leaguers. It is a beautiful thing. This logo makes me happy in that same sort of way.

100 Greatest Pro Sports Logos Countdown

Sport of Design is very excited to announce it's very first top 100 countdown list:

The Sport of Design 100 Greatest Pro Sports Logos Countdown


The list will include logos from MLB, NHL, NFL, MLS, WNBA, NBA as well as any other professional teams or leagues including minor leagues, independent leagues and development leagues.

As a professor of design at Full Sail University in the Sports Marketing and Media Bachelor's Degree Program,  I discuss sports logos with my students and challenge them to seek out and discover interesting examples of sports logos from all corners of the sports world. We learn how to evaluate and critique design, color theory and typography through sports logos of all kinds in our class discussions.   After doing this with 10 plus groups I think I have seen some of the best and worst sports logos ever so I decided to see if I could come up with a top 100 of all time list.

The selections are based on my experience with sports design and of course my design opinion as well. The list is meant to be a fun review of the type of design I am most passionate about and in the spirit of healthy design debate and critique.

I would love to hear your feedback so please share your thoughts about the logos I have selected for the list. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

KC

#TheReturn Derrick Rose Adidas Campaign is ALL IN with explosive, engaging creative!

The multimedia campaign for Derrick Rose's new shoes and apparel release entitled #The Return is an example of outstanding brand design, creative, and social media fan engagement. 

The D Rose 3 collection introduces new shoes and apparel all featuring one of the best athlete logos I think I have ever seen. 

This logo is not just fantastic, it symbolizes a great deal about the player and the man it represents as explained by the head designer of the shoe himself:

"When you pick up the Rose 3.0, the first thing you notice is a brand-new signature logo. This is not just a logo—this is a symbol representing Rose and his life story." - Rob Lee

The web site utilizes a slick responsive design, stunning artwork (also featured on the apparel), powerful video and a unique way for fans to show support.

By using the hashtag created for the campaign, #TheReturn, fans can see their tweets and photos posted to the site and watch the believe counter soar high into the millions.  

Some great creative work and execution on this campaign of true heart. Now let's see if D Rose can amaze us all again this season on the planks. I believe. 

5 Stunning Responsive Athlete Websites

Responsive web design is the future. I wondered last night how many top athletes have gone to responsive websites for their personal brands. I started looking at the 2013 Forbes top paid athletes list to search for some good examples. As logical as I thought it would be that a correlation of financial success to top technology would exist, I discovered that was not the case.

Many of the top paid athletes as you would assume have very nice websites. Serena Williams, Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant all have very attractive and highly functional websites. I found it to be a challenge however, to find great examples of responsive athlete websites.

Here are 5 that I found outstanding:

1. Usain Bolt - http://usainbolt.com

The fastest man on Earth might also have the most amazing athlete website design.

2. Rory McIlroy - http://www.rorymcilroy.com

I absolutely love the image scroller on this site, beautiful photography + story = high emotional appeal.

3. Paul Rodriguez - http://prod84.com

PROD has big things happening in his career at the moment. He announced recently that he would be leaving his long time board sponsor to take more ownership of his brand. Official website, check.

4. Jens Lehmann - http://www.jenslehmann.com/

Jens Lehmann is an accomplished German footballer. His site tells a great story and supports a compelling, multifaceted brand presence.

5. Nyjah Hutson - http://nyjah.com

I was excited to see Nyjah Huston with such a great website. At 18 years old and the highest prize winning skateboarder in history, the story of this brand is young and exciting, just like the man himself.

Three Awesome Responsive Sports Websites

The Sports world has been known to be slow about embracing new digital technologies. With all of the emphasis on social media lately we can't forget about the new design revolution that is responsive web design.

Here are my top 3 sports sites that utilize responsive web design. 

MMQB- Monday Morning Quarter Back is a great new site with awesome content and great responsive design. 

Nascar - Nascar has been a digital super-star in the sports world. They continue to be cutting-edge with their responsive site design.

Dallas Mavericks - The first team site to go responsive.

As I have mentioned before, the responsive revolution is important for sports because sports fans especially want their content on all of their devices, all the time. With responsive web design, the experience from website to tablet to phone can all be the same. Imagine the sports content sites as you know them working more like smart phone apps on your desktop. That is indeed where it is all headed, and these sites have arrived.