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The orange is oranger, but fans are still bored by the Cleveland Browns’ plain orange helmet logo.
According to a research study published on Fanjucier.com, which was conducted by polling 1,400 NFL fans who were picked primarily from Reddit.com, the Browns logo finished dead last, with nearly 50 percent less votes than the 31st-place New York Jets logo.
Eugenie Mclellan, a casual NFL fan with New Orleans Saints affiliation and graphic designer, gave her evaluations of all of the logos, and her review of the orange Browns helmet was consistent with the poor voting results it received.
“My first thought is that it is just not working. It’s boring. There’s nothing representing the Cleveland Browns here. You have this brilliant color here, but it is just a helmet. There’s nothing special about it, especially to someone who doesn’t know anything about football.”
She also said the helmet logo stood out as bad amongst its peers because it’s boring, and “it isn’t symmetrical or in any way pleasing to the eye.”
While Mclellan’s input is appreciated, here it doesn’t take a graphic design professional to state the obvious. The Browns logo is boring. We know. Everyone knows it. People have been slamming the logo for decades, with no indication the franchise has any intention to veer from its historical roots.
Making the helmet more orange, and changing the facemask from grey to brown resulted in a near cataclysmic meltdown. It was mostly sarcasm, as the changes were so small and inconsequential. Imagine if a real change was made?
The new cartoon dog has gotten poor reviews. The Brownie elf is an option, but it too is from a different era. There doesn’t seem to be a solid alternative to consider as of this writing. So let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Are you OK with the boring but historical representation of the team, or do you believe they should modernize their look to be more visually appealing?
My take: Winning some games and associating the logo with winning might help add some pizazz to the helmet.