Review: Windy City Wildfire (AUDL)

Part of the series critiquing the professional Ultimate team logos and nicknames.

Team: Windy City Wildfire

Web: http://wc-wildfire.com // twitter: @wcwildfire

Representation: City // League: AUDL

Disc within logo?: Yes. // Ultimate element in team name?: No.

Background: There are three origins of "Windy City" as Chicago's nickname - none of which are flattering; political, city rivalry with Cincinnati, and excessive local bragging. Having lived there, the combination of tall buildings downtown and natural winds off Lake Michigan definitely create a wind force.

Besides being an NBC TV show & a Chicago MLS team, the Great "Chicago Fire" was a major historical event in 1871 as this fire spread wildly, devastating the city of Chicago. The start of the fire was blamed on a lantern knocked over by Mrs. O'Leary's cow.

While any fire could be 'wild', the term "wildfire" references natural disasters a la Smokey Bear (the wildfire prevention mascot for the U.S. Forest Service). Illinois's only National Forest, Shawnee, is located in the southern part of the state.

The amount spent on the WCWF logo design = $109.

First impression(s):  A combover fail on a balding disc, because it's so windy in Chi-town. Another image comes to mind...

Eli's Eval: Is this generic and poorly designed logo really for a Chicago-based team? The shapes coming out of the top of the disc look like someone had trouble tracing a Minnesota Vikings helmet, and the rest of the flame looks like it was drawn using the pen tool with both eyes closed.

The use of the "stroke" function is also wildly inconsistent. For example, the knockouts between letters - the T&Y in "city", the L&D in "wild", the F&I in "fire". "Windy City" has a Creamsicle-orange stroke around the outside, yet void between the I&T and the counter of the C. The spiky bits off the E at the end of "Wildfire" need to be fixed.

Lightsources are also all over the place or no place at all: the disc has light coming from behind and upper left, "Wildfire" has light coming from top and in front, and the flame and "Windy City" are flat with no light source or skeuomorphic treatment.

Uninspired typography, plus a sloppy and rushed-looking logo.

:Eli's Grades:
Grade: C-
On Logo: D
On Typography: C

Thoughts on this AUDL's team name & logo?