The Indianapolis Colts® have posted the five finalists, which the fans will whittle down to one sparkling choice next week.
Finalists: Voting will begin by early next week (around April 28th) and will be open for approximately seven days.
Here’s my take on the five finalists:
- Number 1:
This is one of my favorites. It’s got character.
- Number 2:
I really dislike this one. The pose, while unique, reminds me of someone hurling over the side of a cruise liner deck railing. Also the disembodied legs are slightly creepy.
- Number 3:
Porportions are off, and this lacks character and style. It looks like re-colored clip-art. The pose is predictable and ho-hum.
- Number 4:
Like number three, it looks like clipart. There is no facial expression, no sense of “knowing” the horse’s personality.
- Number 5:
And saving the best for last: This one gets my vote next week. This one has character, facial expression, is youthful, has a fun and unique visual style, and an interesting, not-oft-seen pose.
Head on over to the Colts contest page to see the larger versions.
It may be worth noting that in our discussion of the contest in my last post, it was brought up that none of these really looks like a colt, but rather appear to be all full-grown horses. It would be downright funny in my opinion to have a mascot that really looked like an actual colt, this is the brutal NFL, after all! In this picture, the colt is the small one.
UPDATE:
The colts have changed image #4 to this:
It’s an unfinished sketch, a mustang logo ripoff with a blue triangle behind it. The previous version was at least at a presentable state of finish.
Also, voting is now active. Once you vote, you have to clear your cookies in order to view the logos again. (Thanks Rob)
(All images are copyright their respective owners.)
Technorati Tags: indianapolis_colts, logo_design, design_contest, horse_logo, colts, horses, graphic_design
April 25th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Note: the Colts have updated/replaced Design #4.
http://www.colts.com/sub.cfm?page=2008_designahorse
April 25th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Thanks Rob, I’ll make an update…
April 25th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
What happened to the original # 4, clearly the best?
April 25th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Must be relative submitted the other one. No longer a colts fan.
April 25th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Agreed, #4 has not been improved by the switch, it’s a Mustang logo with a triangle behind it…
April 26th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I am very surprised by the 5 designs chosen for the 5 finalists. There is one quality design here, The rest are poorly conceived. I have seen some other entries and feel some of them should have been in the top 5 compared to what has been chosen. Who ever has chosen these either has chosen their favorite and put 4 other less quality designs in the top 5 to ensure the best one is picked. There should be 5 solid high end designs posted for the finalists, I guess I am dissappointed, Clearly I think the Colts organization is trying to ensure entry #1 gets chosen, it’s obvious because the other 4 do not comapre in quality. Especially the new #4 entry…and whay was this switched…..Conspiracy theory? Was #4 getting more votes than #1? Ponder it! I would love to see all of the designs posted somewhere to really see the quality submitted. I think this is going to be a controlled vote.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Anyone know why the original # 4 was replaced
April 28th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Don’t no for sure but one could guess that it was found to be a copyrighted image or the finalist was found to be related to a colts employee or something like that. One might also guess that they replaced #4 with the ink pen drawing as a minimal disturbance to the remainder of the voting process and other finalists. If they put in their “sixth favorite” choice, how much crap would hit the fan if it won?
Or, maybe they really liked the ink pen drawing. Who knows?
April 28th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
You can look at more submissions and discussion here: http://forum.colts.com/showthread.php?t=30385
May 6th, 2008 at 7:24 am
I dislike every single one of them…
I know someone who put one in that was ten times better than everyone of them combined..
#1– the colts have TWO colors blue and white. no Navy, blue, and white
#2–the pose is completely ridiculous
#3–again… two colors… ridiculous
#4–new or old.. they look like freakin’ clipart
#5–the only decent one outta the bunch, but it looks like its going to fall over.. and the grin is goofy
but whatever
i guess i’m partial anyway
May 7th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Actually navy IS one of their colors…not just “blue” as in royal blue. The exact navy color is Pantone 654…which you can find on the background of their website.
And #5 is not standing and leaning, it is running and making a sudden turn in the opposite direction..which if he wasn’t leaning, he would indeed fall over the other way. The grin is to give the horse a more fun, but competitive edge.. trying to get away from the usual “angry” face that has been over-used in many sports logos. It is showing more of the fun side of sports since it was supposed to be a young “playful” horse. not a disgruntled one :)
To be fair, it wasn’t noted that we had to use a strict set of colors..and i was personally told that the color variations could easily change after the competition…it is the main design that is being judged. Since the artwork will be going on apparel it might be a little dull if there are no variations of their color schemes. Navy on Navy gets lost and looks flat. The colts frequently use gray with their other colors for this reason.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Sad…from the viewpoint of having a “contest” that is nothing but spec work in disguise and the resulting images.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:45 am
It’s been over a week now and the contest hasn’t changed. I wonder what’s happening
August 12th, 2008 at 9:16 am
These are CLIPART !!!! No designing at all !!! I have been a professional designer for over 17 years & let me tell you…. There is no design to these..
3 out of the 4 designs are CorelDraw Clipart !!!
Very Disappointed in the Colts choices… I thought they were looking for a design worthy of the NFL & worthy of a World Championship Football Team…
These designs are truly embarrasing to all Actual designers out there !
August 12th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Yeah- It’s a big joke. It also seems to have been abandoned.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:11 am
I think they may have read some of the Fan comments & realized the contest has become a joke, therefore, abandoned it ??
It kind of just fell out of the news, off their website etc…
I guess they are hoping, “Out of site, Out of Mind”
All I know, is as a Colts fan, I won’t spend $30 on a Shirt with any of those logos on them…
THAT’S FOR SURE !!
Best of luck to whoever wins….
August 12th, 2008 at 10:13 am
The whole deal really is bizarre. I hope to learn what happened.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:15 am
You’ll never hear what TRULY happened…..
I don’t think anyway…
August 15th, 2008 at 11:03 am
who won the contest???
August 15th, 2008 at 11:34 am
I actually work for a company that does some event decor and signage for the Colts. I entered the contest and did not make the finalists. I asked our Colts contact yesterday about it and she is going to find out about it. Since I do alot of graphic designs for them I requested the secondary mark, so I will post an answer when I find out!
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:49 am
#1 is the winner. Congrats to #1.
August 22nd, 2008 at 8:37 am
Thanks Steve for checking it out and letting me know!!
August 22nd, 2008 at 8:48 am
They just announced it today or maybe late last night. I have checked everyday since the finalists were announced.
August 22nd, 2008 at 9:06 am
That certainly took a long time to make the announcement – I thought the decision was to have been made in late April, early May.
June 8th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
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