This weekend in the NCAA March Madness Tournament, Ohio State played a team from George Mason: The “Patriots.” I was watching the game with friends and was not familiar with George Mason, and well, I felt a bit “un-patriotic” betting against the Patriots. But I lost that guilty feeling as soon as we saw the team take the court. Like any reasonable person, I expected the Patriots to brandish red white and blue team colors.
Imagine my surprise and moment of confusion when the team took the court in green and gold. Green and gold? How does that support the notion of Patriot? There’s a disconnect between “Patriot” and Green and Gold. They don’t support one another.
The marketing lesson is that I felt less guilty betting against the Patriots after seeing their colors and I was also a bit confused about them as a result of their colors not making sense. In terms of commerce, a business owner would not want a potential customer to be confused about their company or to feel not guilty about saying no to their offer.
Other than the colors, the logo is very well designed. But somebody please help me understand: Can someone post a comment that spells out the logic behind their color scheme and mascot “Patriot.” But perhaps it’s élite academic thinking that I cannot understand.
Tags: brand identity, brand value, Branding, company symbol, Logo Design, logo design mistake, sports branding, sports logo design
Your design and branding blog posts are interesting and well written, wish you’d write MORE.
I never really thought about the fact that Company Logos can portray meaning just through the use of color.