Thursday, April 03, 2014

Review: Seattle Raptors (AUDL)

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

[NOTE: above image is a screengrab in an attempt to capture both the logo + type. All other online combined images were too low resolution]

Team: Seattle Raptors

Web: http://www.sraptors.com  // twitter: @RaptorsAUDL

Representation: City // League: AUDL

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

Eli's Eval: While anatomically correct this logo could benefit from a bit of contrast - contrast in line quality, color, or scale would all help with legibility. The silhouette (below) is reminiscent of the Santa Barbara Condors logo, only the Condors' image was flat black with a knockout accent on top to help define things, and Seattle's logo is five shades of gray that read as mud from any distance except when faceguarding.



Type is a modern serif font which means thick posts with thin connector which does not reproduce well with and does not read well from any distance.

The overall design is solid but the designer didn't seem to think about overall context - i.e. legibility in the form in which it will mostly exist.

:Eli's Grades:
Overall Grade: C
On Logo: C
On Typography: C

Background by SLUDGE: There once was a team from Washington state with the Raptors name located in Everett as part of the Indoor Football League; they no longer exist. Of course, there's the Toronto Raptors.

Via this online interview, it is revealed the team name stems from a fascination with flight; with birds as a kid, and later, with Air Force supersonic fighter jets (i.e. F-16 Falcon, F-15 Eagle, F-22 Raptor).

The Raptors ownership wax poetic on the team name: "...good ultimate players need to be fast, highly maneuverable and sometimes, they need to leave the ground and "Lay Out" to make a catch or a block. Good ultimate players come in varied shapes and sizes too. One can be a 5'6" handler who can change direction very quickly while another could be a 6'4" receiver with the ability to snag a disc over 10 feet off the ground. So, I thought that's what I'd like our team to be known as. A bunch of speedy, highly maneuverable but varied "Birds of Prey", that chase after another flying object "the Disc" and snatch it out of the sky with their talons."

First impression(s) by SLUDGE: Looks as if someone traced this image from a fourth grade science textbook and the paper it was traced on was then run through the laundry - washer and dryer - and, then re-traced with their non-dominant hand.

With no disrespect to disc golf designs, Raptor's branding looks like it's meant for a disc golf driver.
[image via Eagle Wings Disc Golf]
Remember that really cool spoofed logo with a really cool dinosaur? Yeah, that was really cool. Hey, maybe Seattle could borrow Montreal's eagle?

What are you thoughts on this AUDL's team name & logo?

3 comments:

Rachel H. said...

Omg could you be any more mean? Retraced with non-dominant hand!!! You went too far.

Sludge said...

Hey, when a logo is low res, it's looks washed out & jagged. That's all.

Anonymous said...

The main logo is obviously the eagle head and not the flying eagle. The flying eagle appears to be used only in selected applications. Sports teams do not design exclusively for the web because they don't exist mainly on the web. Lots of companies use serif fonts even on the web. If you can't read it, you need to wear your bifocals!