Saturday, November 10, 2007

Mailbag: Canucks Logo

I got an email this morning that really made me think.

Hey, love your website,
Do you think that the canucks have a good logo?

That question is so simple yet the answer is so complicated.

Whether you consider the logo to be the orca alone or with the city name arched above it, the long and short of it is I don't really have an answer.



From a personal standpoint, while I do think it is a strong logo, at the same time I feel it could be so much better and so much more representative of the city and the team name.

Having said that, I think the person asking this question would be better served by getting a response from the readership here at NHLToL. For the most part, you guys know your stuff and have very strong opinions. I think they should be heard now.

Let the debate begin!

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

i would have to say the logo with the city above it is the better one. it makes it look more distinguished among the past logos. but thats just me.

Totally Not Ryan Krasman said...

The wordmark is better.

Jerm Deeks said...

The wordmark has a nice font, that's as much as I'm willing to say in judgment of it. The orca logo, I've always disliked it, but I will say the navy/white/silver colour combo is much nicer than the light blue/dark blue/maroon combo of the former rendition. I was really hoping for a return to the stick in the rink this season... I'm sure I've said that before...

Drew Celestino said...

I personally think the Orca is ridiculous-looking. Maybe it's the teeth. I don't know. But it just never worked for me.

That said, the current incarnation is the best it has ever looked, yet they left out any green of any kind. So it appears rather bland. Had it had some of the team's green in it, I might feel differently.

Stick in rink for me.

Darryl said...

they hit their pinacle with the stick in the rink logo. this one just sucks.

Unknown said...

Flying skate for me.

That orca is first-nation Canadian. Inuit I said. That is nowhere seen in the NHL. But the skate was my era.

And of course it need that wordmark. End of discussion about that.

Unknown said...

i was hopping to see the rink and stick logo on the new jersey but it's okay with the orca logo but i doesn't like it with the city name on it it's like an ncaa us team and it's not great jersey

canucklehead said...

Me no likey! Stick-in-the-rink forever!

Chris already knows how I feel about the orca. I think the previous poll where the Stick/rink logo was the hands down winner over all others is also telling of how people feel about the different logos in Canucks history.

Mike Shaw said...

It's an awful, awful, terrible logo that only represents the ownership group (Orca Bay) and neither the team nor the city, which really sucks. If the Canucks want a real logo - they should do something with Johnny Canuck and either a V or a C. I've seen some really cool looking versions that would far surpass the silly whale.

Jacob said...

Aesthetically, The wordmark logo looks good by itself or on a t-shirt. And it's unique. The Orca looks good too.

BUT what does a whale have to do with Vancouver or Canucks? (The addition of the city name to the logo is probably an attempt to correct this.) And on the jersey the logo just looks cluttered, especially with a C or A. It's not horrible, but it needs some work.

And once again, John Slabyk's design is way better.

GelatinousMutantCoconut said...

Hmm,

A little more green would go a long way. It looks like it was bleached out right now. Maybe it's because I'm used to the blue and maroon.

The wordmark isn't as bad as I would've imagined, but still a tad annoying.

As for the actual logo, it's cool. It makes me think of the Pacific Northwest. Whether or not it's a crass ad for Orca Bay, who cares. It's a nice logo that represents our Native cultures, something no other team does.

GelatinousMutantCoconut said...

I was just looking at the old logos, I much prefer the blue and maroon orca.

Curtle said...

Overall It is Quite a Nice Logo. Doesn't Exactly match up to the Stick in Rink if you're talking to a Vancouver fan though. Though it might not be as popular as the stick in rink it does get points for not being so plain which I find is a downside to the stick in rink in my opinion it's just a little too plain for my liking, but don't get me wrong, I love the stick in rink, many things are mostly aquired tastes names, logos, slogans, you name it. The RBK Edge uniform Designs are no exception in this.
The Overal Review of the Canucks logo, just the orca with the word mark, Quite Good, Although it easily could have been better, If I've said it once I'll say it again It lacks Green. All it would be is the current white and blue ice orca logos with an outline of green wrapped around the outline that's just a bit wider than the other stripes nothing else, possibly some green on the Wordmark like we've seen in concepts Because there was so little green the overall jersey looked tackey to me at first in that case.
Say BTW this has kind of been a peeve of mine, Some of the Collars I've seen on the Edge Jerseys look absolutly horrible, I can't exactly complain about Vancouver's just there's one thing, and no it's not the lack of green so they would look similar to the collars on the vintage jersey it's the fact that the colours (Blue on top, White on bottom) are exactly the same on the uniforms so with the white uniforms the white blends in with the rest of the uniform leaving the blue as the only visible colour, I wish they were opposite so the collar would look nice. Although, This is more visible on Jerseys such as the Home Jerseys of the Leafs and Red Wings, my opinion the collars should have been white for their jerseys so you can see the collar, an easy fix that could have made them look alot better.

Eric said...

Just to correct a previous comment: the orca logo is by no means 'Inuit' in design. It's likely meant to resemble the aesthetic of the BC Haida people's art (the best known and most-exported of the west coast styles).

Since the Haida did travel the entire BC coast (and then some) and spread their artistic influence similarly, their style is probably fairly appropriate for a pan-BC team (putting aside whether borrowing a First Nations style is appropriate in the first place).

adriel said...

I love this logo only because i love the team this much.....

you got to beleive in LOU!and the orace is part of our team

Tony Tanti said...

Without the word mark it's a solid balanced logo. The complaint that the word canuck has nothing to do with a whale is a valid one though.

I keep thinking that if they'd take the word mark off the jersey it would be one of the nicer new uni's in the league, instead it's one of the worst.

Bayne said...

I personally like the Orca. Its a good representation of the city and the native indian artwork etc etc. I think it does the job well and I have no problems with it. The re-colouring of it this season was and upgrade, but in saying that, I think it has become a little 'flat' without that accentuating colour. There needs to be a bit of green in it somewhere, much like the maroon was in the last version.

As for the wordmark, I'm not really a fan of it. It doesnt look too bad when you just see it as a logo, but it certainly does not look good on the jersey. I think a proper logo should be able to stand on its own without words, and I think the Orca on its own can do that. Keep the VANCOUVER away!

Mr. Negative said...

Everyone seems to have their problems with the logo being too close to Orca Bay's logo. Or the fact that "it doesn't represent Vancouver" (personally I disagree, I go there once a year and there's a large amount of native art....but that's ok, I'm not here to argue that), My only problem with the updated version of the orca logo is that there is no green in it. How can they revert to the old colors but forget green in the logo?

Charlie @ Sabres Not Slugs.com said...

Drew, where applicable, logos get good dental plans. The slug may be yellow, but his teeth aren't.

Tony Tanti said...

The other problem is that there is a shade of blue in the logo that is not found anywhere on the jersey. That seems odd to me.

And no doubt an Orca represents Vancouver, that's not the issue here. Does an Orca represent a Canuck, that's the question.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I can't think of another team whose symbol has nothing to do with the team name. The only other example I can think of is the Rangers 3rd jersey symbol that had the statue of liberty in it but that was never their main symbol.

Are there other examples?

Drew Celestino said...

Tony, last I checked, neither buffalo nor slug is a sword of any kind.

Jacob said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tony Tanti said...

Good point Drew, though I think there's supposed to be a Sabre shape within the slug. I could be wrong.

Any other examples?

Drew Celestino said...

Yeah, I've heard that as well Tony. To this day, I don't see it. All I see is phail.

Anonymous said...

Flying V!!! Joking of course. I think I have to go with the skate as well.

daudyy said...

stick in the rink is gay if it was a actual logo on a regular based jersey its so plain i think fans will regret it after two years or so if there was a change like that but if it was used as vintage or alternate not to bad

Unknown said...

The wordmark is too big, and having the city name on the home jerseys is simply unnecessary. At the very least switch it to 'Canucks' or something.

Sephiroth - the orca logo is NOT inuit. The 2010 logo is Inuit, the Canucks logo is NW-Coast native. Why the hell they took inspiration from an indian culture that's nowhere even close to Vancouver as the logo for the Olympics when they already have culturally-rich native groups with highly-recognizable art in their own backyard I'll never know.