War On Logos #5: Icy a Hidden Message
…Apologies for the awful pun. But I’m sure you’ll forgive me as that was nowhere near as bad as the logo you’re about to see. This team is the Port Huron Icehawks, a recently formed franchise that plays in the IHL. Okay, so they picked one of the most generic names for a hockey club ever (We get it. You play Ice Hockey. But that doesn’t mean you HAVE to shove the word ‘ice’ at the beginning of your team’s name). That minor flaw in the team’s identity more than makes up for their horrible logo.
This has to be one of the worst sports logos I’ve ever seen. I don’t mind teams that go for a cartoony image, but when it’s looks more like an overly detailed cartoon drawing with gradients in places and less like a sports team’s logo, that’s when I can’t stand it. Plus that looks nothing like a hawk; they have much smaller beaks than that. It looks more like a cross between a vulture and a parrot. And what’s with his facial expression? I’m pretty sure that an ‘Icehawk’ can pull a more intimidating face without showing off his great big teeth which shouldn’t even be there anyway.
Moving down a bit, we have an unnecessary wordmark. A hockey stick would have been fine, but no, they went for a tacky, gradiented wordmark. And as if the team’s name wasn’t generic enough, they even picked the ‘Impact’ font, which comes pre-installed on most Windows PCs.
And finally, moving down again, we have yet another unnecessary feature: the icicles, which going by the colours look more like deformed blades which have stabbed and are covered in gradiented blood (The designer has quite a fetish for gradients, don’t they?). Even worse, the ice looks partially like a 3D graphic, a big no-no in the world of sports logo design. I mean, yes, some logos may have been designed in a way that gives them, for lack of a better term, a pseudo-3D effect, for example the NHL’s current Conference logos, the Ottawa Senators primary, and also, while not a logo, the New York Rangers jersey numbers.
And as for the hidden message mentioned in the title, take a closer look at the ice. If you are keen-eyed, you should be able to spot the word ‘KINNEY’. Some of you may now be asking “What does Kinney mean?” or “Who is Kinney?” etc. Those are good questions, and here is your answer: Larry Kinney. He is the team’s owner, as well as the owner and CEO of Datapak Services Corporation.
An owner putting their name into a team’s logo is something that’s never been done before, and for a very good reason: it’s completely stupid. It would be like the L.A. Kings having ‘Anschutz’ hidden in their logo, or the Boston Bruins having ‘Jacobs’ hidden in theirs. Half the time, the casual sports fan doesn’t give a rat’s arse about who owns the team, so why bother hiding your name in there?
Please Mr Kinney, get rid of this horrible thing. You can keep your team’s stupidly generic name for all I care, but at least give your fans a nice logo to look at, without adding your name in there.
I’m Wildwing64, and I declare War On Logos.