For a few days, fans put their feelings about the Rams’ inactivity in free agency and key departures on hold. They instead turned their attention to the team’s big logo reveal, which took place on Monday afternoon.
The Rams unveiled their new logos and team colors as the first part of their brand refresh, with the overhauled uniforms coming later this spring. The new look was met with overwhelming criticism from fans, with thousands sharing their displeasure on Twitter.
Now two days removed from the logo announcement, I’ve stepped back and digested what a huge change this is for the Rams – as many other fans have, too. I still don’t agree with the decision to go from an iconic logo to one that prominently features the letters L.A. with a swooping ram horn, but there are aspects of the design that I can respect, especially after speaking with some of the designers behind the logo.
Here are some thoughts on what the Rams got right with their new logos, as well as where they missed the mark.
What they got right
The colors
If there’s one thing fans can feel good about, it’s the fact that the team got the colors right. They stuck with the classic royal and yellow color scheme, but brightened both up to make them pop even more.
Kevin Demoff realized how badly the majority of fans wanted the Rams to keep the blue and yellow look, and they definitely hit the mark here. Rams VP of merchandise Tyrel Kirkham said the team “looked at 150 shades of royal blue” before landing on the one they chose.
Deeper meaning of “L.A.” logo
There’s a lot of depth to the L.A. logo, which many fans may not realize. It stemmed from the Fibonacci Sequence, or the golden ratio, which creates a “perfect spiral.” This is represented by a crashing wave in the Pacific, the sweeping arches at SoFi Stadium, a football’s spiral and of course, the horn of a ram.
As Rams creative director Cory Befort pointed out, too, the “sunset” color in the gradient is meant to emulate the colorful sunsets on the West Coast, while the transition from white to yellow is a sign of the Rams moving away from the past (when white was a primary color in the logo) and into the future, while also recognizing past teams.
Inclusion of a ram head
While it’s disappointing that the team went with the L.A. logo as its primary mark, it’s encouraging that a ram head was still included in the new logo package. It keeps with the tradition of it being a key part of the team’s logo history, even if it was modernized with a minimalist look.
Continuity with the horn
The horn from the L.A. logo is almost identical to the horn on the ram head mark, which is a neat bit of continuity. The ram head doesn’t feature the white gradient, but it’s essentially the same two-piece horn with the same type of shading.
That horn can also be used on its own in the future, according to Befort. That will take a year or two, however, as fans become accustomed to the new look and associating the new horn with the Rams.
Wordmark
The wordmark won’t be used as often as the two main logos, but the team did a good job with this one. The stacked wording works well, as does the simplistic design and font.
Befort likened it to bringing a “60s old font back to the prevalent space.”
What they got wrong
Similarity to Chargers
For someone who lives in Los Angeles but doesn’t closely follow sports, it’d be easy to mistaken the Rams’ new logo for one representing the Chargers. That’s not good for the Rams. When the logo leaked on the hat, many wondered if it was simply a combination of both teams for the opening of SoFi Stadium. Again, not a good sign for the Rams’ brand.
The horn resembles a lightning bolt, and the coloring without the royal blue is also similar to the Chargers’ scheme. This feels like a huge mistake by the Rams.
Generic look
When the logo was unveiled, Twitter had a field day. Some likened it to a morning news show’s logo, while others compared it to something a gas station would use on its sign. That sort of reception is never good, and it shows how generic the logo looks on the surface.
Yes, it has underlying meanings that tie to the Rams and L.A., but a logo shouldn’t need explanation.
The gradient
The gradient is hardly the worst part of the logo, but it also doesn’t do much for it, either. The transition from white to yellow is supposed to signal the team transitioning from its past to the future, but it makes the logo look uninspired and almost like something out of a create-a-team tool in a video game.
Rounded design of the ram head
The ram head had so, so much potential. As it is, the logo isn’t terrible. It’s unique and modern, but the edges are just … soft. The only sharp line is at the top of the right horn, while every other edge is rounded and unintimidating.
A revamped logo has been circulating on social media with a much sharper look, including a yellow eye, harder angles and a pointier horn tip. It’s a subtle tweak, but it makes the logo look more finished and along the lines of other NFL logos.
Lettering as the primary logo
Most of the best logos in sports feature some sort of mascot, not an abbreviation. Hardly anyone looks at the Giants’ logo and thinks it’s one of the better marks in the league. The Rams’ new logo will never be viewed as one of the best in sports. Their old ram head logo was seen that way, but no longer.
That’s a telling sign of how this logo will be received down the line. On the flipside, had the Rams nailed the ram head logo, it would’ve immediately been seen as one of the best in football.
Ignoring fan response
After the logo on the draft hat leaked, the Rams had two options: Push forward with that as the primary logo, or pivot and release something different. They chose to stick with Plan A and revealed that very logo to fans a few weeks later.
The Rams had the chance to take fan input into consideration and release a different logo, but they refused to do that – and understandably so. They took years to develop this logo, so why would they be OK to throw it out the window?
That being said, they could’ve simply called the ram head their primary logo, introduced the L.A. mark as a secondary logo and fans would’ve never known the original plan. It would’ve appeased fans with the correct colors and gone with the theme of sticking with the ram head, too.
